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u 


)     i: 


%<"*'* 


1^    KOTnit^afr, 


'"Tmi^dr^'Vf  ^v^-Aniv, ,  <fe>wi-,  S*~, 


J.ng:£^^,     1^1  o 


(f^oo  ra^  u^  y..;^;)^ 


CORRESPONDENCE 

OF 

EDMUND  BURKE  &  WILLIAM  WINDHAM 


CORRESPONDENCE 

OF 

EDMUND  BURKE  &  WILLIAM  WINDHAM 


WITH  OTHER   ILLUSTRATIVE   LETTERS   FROM 
THE   WINDHAM   PAPERS   IN   THE  BRITISH   MUSEUM 


EDITED   BY 
J.  P.  GILSON,  M.A. 

ASSISTANT    KEEPER    OF    MSS.    IN    THE    BRITISH    MUSEUM 


CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED   AT  THE   UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

MCMX 


CTambriligE: 

PRINTED   BY  JOHN   CLAY,    M.A. 
AT  THE   UNIVERStTY   PRESS 


SAi'Vi'A  UAiUJAiLA 


B1  A 


DEDICATED   AND   PRESENTED 

TO 

THE    PRESIDENT    AND    MEMBERS 

OF 

BY   THEIR  OBEDIENT   SERVANT 

ARTHUR  JAMES   BALFOUR 


4,  Carlton  Gardens 
29  Sep/.   1910. 


MCMX. 

THE   EARL   OF    ROSEBERY,    K.G.,    K.T. 

PRESIDENT. 

HIS  EXCELLENCY   HON.   WHITELAW   REID. 

DUKE   OF   DEVONSHIRE. 

DUKE   OF   PORTLAND,    K.G.,   G.CV.O. 

DUKE   OF   NORTHUMBERLAND,    K.G. 

DUKE   OF   BUCCLEUCH,   K.G.,    K.T. 

DUKE   OF   ROXBURGHE,    K.T.,    M.V.O. 

MARQUESS   OF   BATH. 

MARQUESS   OF   SALISBURY. 

EARL   OF   PEMBROKE   AND    MONTGOMERY,    G.CV.O. 

EARL   OF    ILCHESTER. 

EARL   OF   POVVIS. 

EARL   BEAUCHAMP,    K.C.M.G. 

EARL   BROWNLOW. 

EARL   OF   CAWDOR. 

EARL   OF   ELLESMERE. 

EARL   OF   CREWE,    K.G. 

EARL   OF   PLYMOUTH. 

EARL   OF   CRAWFORD   AND    BALCARRES,    K.T. 

LORD   CH.    FREDERICK    BRUDENELL-BRUCE. 

LORD   ZOUCHE. 

LORD   ALDENiIaM. 

RIGHT   HON.    ARTHUR   JAMES   BALFOUR,    M.P. 

SIR   WILLIAM   REYNELL   ANSON,    BART.,    M.P. 

SIR    EDWARD    MAUNDE   THOMPSON,    G.C.B. 

LT.-COL.    SIR   GEORGE    LINDSAY   HOLFORD,    K.C.V.O.,    CLE. 

INGRAM    BYWATER,    ESQ. 

SYDNEY    RICHARDSON   CHRISTIE-MILLER,    ESQ. 

GEORGE    BRISCOE    EYRE,    ESQ. 

ALFRED    HENRY    HUTH,    ESQ.,    Vice-President. 

MONTAGUE    RHODES   JAMES,    ESQ. 

ANDREW   LANG,    ESQ. 

CHARLES   BRINSLEY   MARLAY,    ESQ. 

JOHN    MURRAY,    ESQ.,   Treasurer. 

CHARLES   W.    DYSON    PERRINS,    ESQ. 

HENRY   YATES   THOMPSON,    ESQ. 

MICHAEL   TOMKINSON,    ESQ. 

VICTOR   WILLIAM    BATES   VAN    DE    WEYER,    ESQ. 

WILLIAM   ALDIS    WRIGHT,    ESQ. 


ai 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
From  1783  to  the  Outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution. 


PAGE 

Add.  37843,  f.      I. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

5  May  1783       ...         I 

f-      3- 

»                  i> 

10  June     „ 

3 

f.     S- 

»»                  »i 

14  Oct.  1784 

4 

f.      7- 

>•                 »i 

15     .. 

5 

f.      9. 

»»                 J) 

7  May  1785 

S 

f.    II. 

J)                 »» 

21  Nov.    ,, 

6 

Add.  37873,  f.  159. 

Windham  to . 

26  Nov.  1788 

7 

Add.  37843,  f.    15. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

25  Dec.     „ 

9 

Burke  Corr.  in.  88. 

»                  11 

24  Jan.  1789 

II 

CHAPTER    H. 
From  the  Outbreak  of  the  Revolution  to  the  Declaration  of  War. 


Add.  37843,  f.  15. 
„  f.  19. 
Add.  37873.  f-  172- 
Add.  37843,  f.  21. 
Add.  3784s,  f.   5. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

Windham  to  J.  Gurney. 

Burke  to . 

Portland  to  Windham. 


27  Sept.  1789 
27  Oct.    1790 
2  May  1792 
7  Aug.     „ 
13  Oct.     „ 


20 
21 
25 
30 
31 


CHAPTER   HI. 
From  the  Beginning  of  the  War  to  Windham's  Acceptance  of  Office. 


Add.  37848,  f.    55 

Windham  to  Hippisley. 

28  March  1793 

33 

Add.  37844,  f.      7 

Pitt  to  Windham. 

14  June 

41 

Add.  37S52,  f.  212. 

Sir  G.  EUiot  to  Windham. 

4  Aug. 

43 

„           f.  216. 

»                     11 

T    -» 

■^0                 '»                               ') 

47 

*Burke  Corr.  iv.  132. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

lo            I)                     >I 

49 

Add.  37843,  f.    23. 

)i                  >i 

20     „ 

50 

*BurkeCorr.  iv.  134. 

i>                 )> 

23    ., 

SI 

Add.  37845,  f.    13. 

Windham  to  Portland. 

3  Sept.        „ 

52 

»             f-  "2 

Spencer  to  Windham. 

14     .. 

55 

„           f.  114. 

)>                    J) 

18     „ 

58 

X 


CONTENTS 


Add.  37852,  f.  220. 
,,  f.  221^. 

Add.  37S48,  f.  297. 
Add.  37844,  f.    II. 

..  f.    13- 

Add.  37843,  f.    25. 

*BurkeCorr.  iv.  179. 
Add.  37843,  f.    29. 

*Burke  Corr.  iv.  177. 

*  ..  „  189. 
Add.  37843,  f.  31. 
Add.  37845,  f.  119. 

*BurkeCorr.  iv.  192. 

*  ,.  ),  201. 
Add.  37844,  f.    15. 

*Burke  Corr.  iv.  205. 

Add.  37843,  f.  33. 

Add.  37845,  f-  17- 

Add.  37844,  f.  19. 

Add.  37843,  f.  35. 

Add.  37845,  f.  39. 

Add.  37843,  f.  37- 

,.  f-  39- 

„  f.  41. 

Add.  37845,  f.  41. 


PAGE 

Sir  G.  Elliot  to  Windham. 

2    Oct.    1793    ...       60 

Burke  to  Windham. 

2     „ 

62 

Burke  to  Hippisley. 

3     „ 

63 

Windham  to  Pitt. 

II     „ 

.       68 

Pitt  to  Windham. 

13     „ 

70 

Burke  to  Windham. 

End  Oct.      , 

71 

Windham  to  Burke. 

I  Nov.          , 

73 

Burke  to  Windham. 

4     „ 

75 

About  5     „ 

76 

Windham  to  Burke. 

7     .. 

77 

Burke  to  Windham.      About  8     „             , 

79 

Spencer  to  Windham. 

II     „ 

82 

Windham  to  Burke. 

14     „ 

87 

Burke  to  Windham. 

25     „ 

89 

Windham  to  Pitt. 

16  Dec. 

91 

Burke  to  Windham. 

8  Jan.  1794 

93 

Rich.  Burke  to  Windham. 

8     „       ,, 

94 

Portland  to  Windham. 

II     „       „ 

95 

Windham  to  Pitt. 

20     „ 

104 

Burke  to  Windham. 

I  Feb.    „ 

los 

Portland  to  Windham. 

16  April  ,, 

107 

Rich.  Burke  to  Windham. 

—  June    „ 

108 

Burke  to  Windham. 

10     „       „ 

109 

Rich.  Burke  to  Windham. 

19     „       » 

109 

Portland  to  Windham. 

3  July    „ 

III 

CHAPTER   IV. 

First  Period  of  the  Coalition.     Fitzwilliam  and  Ireland. 


Spencer  to  Windham. 
Burke  to  Windham. 


Add.  37845,  f.  127, 
*Burke  Corr.  iv.  227 

Add.  37843,  f.    43.  „                  „ 

II             '•    45-  „                  ', 

„             f-    47-  >i                 „ 

„             f-    49-  >,                 „ 

Add.  37874,  f.    83.  Fitzwilliam  to  Windham. 

Add.  37845,  f.    47.  Portland  to  Windham. 

Add.  37874,  f.    85.  Windham  to  Fitzwilliam. 

f.    88.  Mansfield  to  Windham. 

Add.  37845,  f.    49.  Portland  to  Windham. 

Add.  37843,  f.    51.  Burke  to  Windham. 

*Windh.  Diary,p.  328.  „                   ,, 

,,          ,,      P*32i*  ,,                  ,, 

Add.  37845,  f.    59.  Portland  to  Windham. 
„             f-    61. 


12 

Aug. 

1794 

15 

,, 

»» 

17 

,, 

ij 

28 

Sept. 

)) 

7 

Oct. 

9) 

8 

Si 

)> 

II 

)l 

J» 

1 1 

J) 

J) 

12 

)) 

)) 

12 

J) 

)J 

13 

J> 

») 

15 

n 

5» 

16 

a 

>> 

i6 

Ji 

)» 

18 

» 

J> 

19 

1) 

J) 

ii6 
117 
118 

120 
121 
121 
122 
124 

"S 
126 
128 
128 
129 
131 
139 
139 


CONTENTS 

, 

XI 

PAGE 

*Windh.  Diary,  p.  330. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

20  Oct.  1794 

140 

*      ,.          ..      P-333- 

,,                  ,, 

28     „        „            .         . 

142 

Add.  37843,  f. 

53- 

,>                  ,, 

22  Dec.     „ 

144 

*Burke  Corr.  iv. 

251- 

,j                  ,, 

30     >,       „            •         • 

145 

Add.  37843,  f. 

55- 

,j                  ,» 

7    Jan.    1795       • 

148 

f- 

57- 

,,                  ,, 

8      ,,         „          •         • 

150 

f- 

59- 

,j                 ,, 

No  date               .         . 

151 

Add.  3787s,  f. 

I. 

Fitzwilliam  to  Windham. 

I  March    „ 

153 

f- 

5- 

Windham  to  Fitzwilliam. 

s     ,.       ..       •       • 

154 

Add.  37843,  f. 

61. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

6      „         „          .         . 

15s 

f- 

65- 

Burke  to  Mrs  Crewe. 

»)              n                •              • 

156 

f. 

67. 

,,                 ,, 

13     „       -        •       • 

158 

f. 

63- 

n                                     ,, 

,,       ,,        ■       • 

158 

f- 

69. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

I  April      „ 

160 

CHAPTER   V. 

Assistance  to  the  Emigre. 


Add.  37843,  f. 

71- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

9  June  I 

795 

.    162 

)l                     ^' 

73- 

j»                  ., 

27     „ 

1) 

.    164 

JJ                     ^* 

75- 

,j                  ,, 

30  July 

») 

.    166 

U                        ^' 

77- 

,1                  ,, 

4  Sept. 

)? 

.    166 

JJ                        *' 

79- 

,,                                          M 

15     ,. 

)» 

.    167 

J  J                       ^' 

81. 

Burke  to  Portland. 

3  Oct. 

JJ 

169 

))                        *• 

83- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

10     „ 

»» 

171 

Add.  37844^  f- 

104. 

Windham  to  Pitt. 

16     „ 

») 

172 

)»           *• 

106. 

Pitt  to  Windham. 

18     „ 

51 

174 

Add.  37843.  f- 

85- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

17  Nov. 

5> 

175 

»           *• 

88. 

,,                   ,, 

29     „ 

yj 

178 

J  J           I* 

90. 

Burke  to  Woodford. 

29     „ 

>) 

181 

))           ** 

94- 

^Vindham  to  Burke. 

17  Jan. 

1796 

185 

)»           1' 

97- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

19       „ 

)» 

188 

)»           ^* 

99. 

"                  ,, 

6  March 

)i 

189 

J)           *• 

lOI. 

,j                 ,, 

7      ., 

)) 

190 

))           ^' 

103. 

,1                  jj 

28      „ 

») 

190 

Add.  37844,  f- 

122. 

Windham  to  Pitt. 

27  April 

I) 

191 

Add.  37843,  f- 

105. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

2  June 

n 

194 

n                 I* 

107. 

,,                  ,» 

7     „ 

M 

195 

Jj                *■ 

109. 

,,                  ,, 

I  Aug. 

>j 

196 

Add.  37845,  f. 

144. 

Spencer  to  Windham. 

24     „ 

J) 

197 

Add.  37876,  f. 

214. 

Dundas  to  Windham. 

24     „ 

)i               • 

198 

>)                     ** 

218. 

Windham  to  Dundas. 

25     >, 

ii 

200 

Add.  37843,  f. 

III. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

27     „ 

») 

201 

Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    VI. 


First  Negotiations  for  Peace. 


Add. 

37843,  f.  113. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

II  Sept. 

1796 

f-  "S- 

»i                  ,, 

I  Nov. 

»           f-  117- 

ji                  11 

11     „ 

Add. 

37876,  f.  251. 

William  Elliot  to  Windham. 

22     „ 

Add. 

37843,  f.  119. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

25     » 

„           f.  121. 

Burke  to  Woodford. 

9  Dec. 

,,           f-  123. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

18     „ 

*Burk 

eCorr.  iv.  401. 

Windham  to  Burke. 

20     „ 

* 

404- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

23     .. 

» 

„        412. 

Windham  to  Burke. 

24       n 

Add. 

37843,  f-  125- 

Burke  to  Windham. 

25       » 

PAGE 
202 
204 
205 
206 
209 
211 

213 
216 
217 
222 
223 


CHAPTER   VII. 
Burke's  Last  Days.     The  Naval  Mutiny. 


Add.  37843.  f-  127- 
*Burke  Corn  iv.  424. 

Add.  37876,  f.  298. 
*BurkeCorr.  iv.  427. 

Add.  37843,  f.  135. 
*Burke  Corn  iv.  429. 

Add.  37845.  f-  155- 
*Burke  Corn  iv.  439. 

Add.  37843.  f-  174- 
Add.  37844,  f.  267. 
Add.  37843,  f.  187. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

5  Jan. 

1797 

225 

Windham  to  Burke. 

17     ,. 

»> 

228 

Windham  to  Addington. 

6  Feb. 

J» 

230 

Windham  to  Burke. 

11     ,. 

)) 

232 

Burke  to  Windham. 

12     „ 

J) 

233 

Windham  to  Burke. 

17     ,. 

)J 

235 

Lady  Spencer  to  Windham. 

20  April 

)J 

236 

Windham  to  Burke. 

25     .. 

yf 

238 

Burke  to  Windham. 

26     „ 

JJ 

241 

Canning  to  Windham. 

12  May 

j> 

243 

Burke  to  Windham. 

16     „ 

7) 

244 

The  asterisk  marks  those  which  have  been  printed  before. 


CORRIGENDA. 

p.      4,  1.  14,  for  Thomas  Sadler  read  James  Sadler, 
p.    43,  1.  13,  /or  war  official  read  unofficial, 
p.  244,  1.  18,  for  10"'  J/ay  read  16'"  May. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  nucleus  of  this  volume  consists  of  fifty-three  hitherto  unpub- 
lished letters  of  Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham,  and  eight 
to  other  persons,  taken  from  the  Windham  Papers  acquired  in  1909 
by  the  British  Museum.  In  order  to  exhibit  the  correspondence  as 
a  whole,  and  to  make  it  intelligible  to  those  who  may  not  be  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  details  of  the  history  of  the  period  with 
which  it  is  concerned,  it  has  been  necessary  to  add  to  these  more 
than  an  equal  number  of  other  letters.  In  the  first  place  thirteen 
more  letters  of  Burke  to  Windham  have  been  reprinted  either  from 
the  correspondence  of  Burke,  published  by  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  or  from 
Windham's  Diary,  published  by  Mrs  Henry  Baring,  the  originals  of 
which  do  not  in  either  case  appear  to  have  returned  to  the  collection. 
Next  are  added  ten  letters  of  Windham  to  Burke,  only  one  of  which 
is  new;  so  that  the  total  of  the  Burke- Windham  correspondence  proper 
now  amounts  to  seventy-six  letters,  the  extreme  dates  being  1 783  and 
1 797,  though  the  main  interest  centres  on  the  last  nine  years,  the 
period  between  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  and  the  death 
of  Burke.  The  remaining  forty-two  letters  are  selected  also  from 
the  Windham  Papers  with  a  view  to  illustrating  the  subjects  men- 
tioned in  Burke's  letters,  and  with  the  intention  of  reducing  to  a 
minimum  the  intervention  of  the  editor  between  the  original  corre- 
spondence and  the  reader.  Many  of  these  letters  are  important 
documents,  worthy  of  publication  for  their  own  sake,  and  all,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware,  are  hitherto  unpublished.  They  will  serve  to  give 
an  idea  of  the  wealth  of  material  in  the  collection  recently  acquired 
by  the  nation,  but  it  will  be  undet-stood  that  as  the  selection  is  made 
for  a  restricted  purpose,  and  with  prescribed  limits  of  space,  they  are 
by  no  means  exhaustive  even  for  the  period  which  they  cover,  which 
is  only  a  small  part  of  Windham's  political  career.  I  think  however 
that  the  introduction  of  these  letters  will  be  found  of  value  as  illus- 

B.-W.  c.  b 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

trating  the  various  characters  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  party, 
and  will  make  a  better  picture  of  the  state  of  English  politics  during 
the  war  against  revolutionary  France  than  could  be  obtained  from 
a  volume  which  was  restricted  to  the  letters  of  one  or  two  persons, 
however  eminent  or  however  brilliant  as  writers.  For  the  brief 
explanatory  remarks  interpolated  between  the  letters  and  for  the 
notes  I  have  drawn  upon  the  Diary  and  several  other  sources,  the 
most  important  being  the  charming  and  well-edited  correspondence 
of  Lord  Minto,  a  book  which  no  one  should  fail  to  read,  and  which 
no  one  can  lay  down  until  he  has  acquired  a  singularly  vivid  impres- 
sion of  a  statesman  of  great  ability  and  most  attractive  character,  as 
well  as  of  two  equally  delightful  ladies,  in  Elliot's  wife  and  her 
sister.  Lady  Malmesbury.  The  reader  will  be  disappointed  to  find 
in  these  pages  only  three  new  letters  from  a  correspondent  so  free 
as  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  shows  himself  from  the  stiffness  by  which  most 
eighteenth  century  letters  are  marred,  but  Elliot's  absence  in  Corsica 
removed  him,  after  1 794,  from  the  main  current  of  home  politics,  and 
his  correspondence  on  Mediterranean  affairs  would  have  carried  us 
too  far  from  the  topics  of  Burke's  letters. 

In  reality  we  might  say  that  the  letters  in  this  volume  have  but 
a  single  subject.  If  we  look  upon  the  first  nine  letters  as  merely 
introductory  the  shadow  of  the  French  Revolution  is  over  all  the 
rest,  and  Burke's  attitude  is  the  same  from  the  first  to  the  last  :  an 
attitude  to  which  that  of  Windham  and  his  chief  Whig  associates 
becomes  gradually  assimilated.  But  the  one  subject  is  presented 
in  an  infinite  variety  of  aspects. 

Should  we  seek  to  analyse  the  principles  of  Whiggism  as  held 
by  the  opposition  in  the  early  part  of  Pitt's  administration  and  to 
discover  how  they  operated  to  pull  the  party  in  different  directions 
and  finally  to  rend  it  asunder,  we  may  perhaps  find  a  rough  and 
ready  scheme  by  examining  these  principles  as  interpreted  by  three 
or  four  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  opposition.  In  the  Duke  of 
Portland  Whiggism  may  be  said  to  be  mainly  a  party  sentiment. 
This  appears  in  his  definition  of  the  party  as  "an  union  of  any 
number  of  persons  of  independent  means  and  fortunes  formed  and 
connected  together  by  their  belief  in  the  principles  upon  which  the 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

revolution  of  1688  was  founded  and  perfected  and  their  attachment 
to  the  present  form  of  our  government,  to  all  its  establishments  and 
orders,  religious  and  civil."  At  the  first  glance  such  a  definition 
comes  dangerously  near  to  the  blindest  kind  of  conservatism.  If 
not  reactionary,  it  at  least  helps  us  little  towards  a  theory  of  poli- 
tical progress.  Really  it  seems  hardly  a  caricature  to  say  that  his 
view  is  confined  within  a  vicious  circle,  that  the  Whig  party  is 
necessary  to  the  country  because  it  upholds  the  principles  of  the 
glorious  revolution,  and  the  revolution  was  glorious  because — it 
brought  into  power  the  "  natural  aristocracy  of  the  country,"  the 
Whig  families.  At  any  rate  the  party  is  a  prime  consideration  ; 
and  we  must  realise  this  perfectly  honest  prepossession  in  order  to 
understand  the  Duke's  prolonged  hesitation  before  he  would  commit 
himself  to  an  obviously  inevitable  rupture  with  Fox.  That  Europe 
should  present  a  united  front  against  anarchy  was  eminently  desir- 
able, but  it  seemed  to  him  a  matter  of  almost  equal  moment  that 
these  persons  of  independent  fortunes  should  present  a  united  front 
at  home  against  a  tyrannical  sovereign  and  self-seeking  politicians 
not  of  the  Whig  tradition.  In  Fox's  Whiggism  one  cannot  fail  to  see 
that  the  guiding  principle  is  a  liberal  sentiment,  a  generous  enthu- 
siasm for  liberty,  which  is  prompt  to  admire  and  sympathise  with 
all  that  is  best  in  the  French  revolutionary  spirit  and,  if  not  blind 
to  its  dangers,  ever  hopeful  for  the  ultimate  victory  of  liberty  over 
tyranny  and  cruelty.  His  optimism  appears  in  a  conversation  re- 
corded by  Pelham  in  January  1794,  when  Fo.x  advocated  overtures 
for  peace  with  France,  urging  "that  any  government  which  would 
succeed  to  the  existing  one  in  France  would  be  more  aristocratical 
or  monarchical,  and  consequently  less  likely  to  engage  in  a  fresh 
war  upon  any  advantages  we  might  gain  in  negotiation  with  the 
existing  government."  Events  were  to  give  the  fullest  justification 
to  Pelham's  description  of  this  as  a  "  specious  argument,  involving 
an  opinion  that  the  existing  government  was  the  worst  possible 
for  us'."  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  Duke  of  York,  a  few  weeks 
later,  told  Pelham   that  in   1792    he  had  urged   upon  Fox  to  join 

'  From  this  Pelham  drew  the  fair  conclusion  that  if  it  were  indeed  so  we  were 
warranted  in  supporting  any  other,  that  is  to  say,  the  royalists. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION 

Pitt's  administration,  and  had  been  much  shocked  by  the  reply 
that  there  was  something  to  be  said  for  such  a  course  because,  if 
there  was  a  war,  as  seemed  inevitable,  and  he,  Fox,  remained  in 
opposition,  he  must  of  course  be  against  it,  Pelham's  comment  is 
that  the  feelinar  of  course  does  the  Duke  credit,  but  that  he  cannot 
think  Fox's  meaning  was  rightly  understood.  Allowing  for  human 
weakness  and  all  that  may  be  said  against  the  character  of  this 
particular  man,  Charles  Fox,  we  may  still  endorse  Pelham's  doubts. 
Party  was  much  to  Fox,  as  it  must  be  to  all  politicians  of  influence, 
but  it  was  not  the  main  principle  of  his  actions.  In  Burke  Whig- 
gism  was  more  of  an  intellectual  philosophy,  not  indeed  lacking  in 
enthusiasm,  far  from  it,  but  restricting  enthusiasm  to  the  attainment 
of  objects  unquestionably  right  and  universal,  the  preservation  of 
order  and  property,  liberty  of  conscience  and  purity  of  political 
motive.  In  Windham  we  shall  see  a  disciple  of  Burke's  philosophy, 
but  a  disciple  in  whom  the  sentiment  for  liberty  is  at  first  stronger 
than  the  apprehension  of  the  dangers  of  anarchy.  When  the 
anarchy  becomes  a  fact  and  Burke's  anticipations  are  realised,  the 
sentiments  of  pity  and  terror  overwhelm  the  sentiment  of  liberty, 
and  Burke  and  Windham  are  again  at  one.  What  is  more,  they 
stand  in  regard  to  one  part  of  the  problem,  whether  right  or 
wrong,  almost  alone  ;  for  it  is  not  easy  to  point  to  any  other  leading 
statesman  of  the  time  as  being  definitely,  consistently  and  willingly 
committed  to  the  restoration  of  the  French  monarchy  as  a  main 
object  of  policy.  Portland,  Spencer  and  Grenville  really  differ 
only  in  degree,  in  their  conception  of  the  objects  of  the  war,  from 
Pitt  or  Dundas.  It  is  to  all  of  them  a  war  forced  upon  us  by  the 
government  of  France,  against  which  we  are  entitled  to  defend 
ourselves,  and  to  join  with  our  allies  in  exacting  indemnities  to 
cover  our  expenses,  and  pledges  to  be  held  as  security  for  the 
better  conduct  of  France  for  the  future. 

In  obtaining  these  we  are  doubtless  entitled  to  make  use  of 
royalist  assistance,  but  prudence  will  confine  the  aid  afforded  to  them 
within  narrow  limits  in  view  of  possible  future  changes  in  our 
relations  with  the  de  facto  government.  They  are  not  of  course 
to  be  treated  quite  on  the  footing  of  deserters  from  the  enemy's 


INTRODUCTION  XVll 

army,  for  their  situation  and  sufferings  ought  to  command  our 
respect  and  sympathy,  but  politically  speaking  we  cannot  disguise 
from  ourselves  that  they  are  an  embarrassment  to  our  policy.  They 
compel  us  to  commit  ourselves  upon  points  which  we  would  much 
rather  leave  open.  They  may,  if  we  are  not  careful,  involve  us 
in  inconsistencies.  At  Toulon,  for  example,  we  seem  to  stand  for  the 
constitution  of  1789,  while  in  Brittany  we  join  in  the  proclamation 
of  Louis  XVIII  without  any  proviso  as  to  limitations  upon  his 
power.  Other  practical  difficulties  of  detail  continually  crop  up. 
How,  for  instance,  are  the  irregular  forces  of  invading  emigres  to 
be  financed  ?  By  assignats  issued  in  the  name  of  the  French  king  .'' 
They  would  be  too  dangerous  to  the  otherwise  willing  country-people 
among  whom  the  invaders  are  to  act,  and  on  whom  they  must  depend 
for  most  of  their  supplies.  By  English  gold  ?  The  same  objection 
applies.  By  genuine  republican  assignats  .-*  With  every  endeavour 
it  is  found  impossible  to  purchase  a  sufficient  quantity  in  the 
Netherlands  or  elsewhere.  By  forged  republican  assignats?  It  is 
the  method  the  emigres  themselves  prefer,  but  it  is  very  awkward, 
and  we  must  take  the  greatest  pains  to  know  nothing  of  the  way  in 
which  they  actually  carry  the  money  we  give  them  :  it  is  of  course 
their  affair,  and  if  any  ministerial  person  knows  anything  it  must 
be  only  some  discreet  Mr  Nepean,  rarely  to  be  betrayed,  even  in 
a  secret  letter\  into  mentioning  that  the  amount  of  assignats  to 
be  taken  is  settled  but  not  yet  "  what  part  of  them  ought  to  be  real." 
Again,  should  we  land  a  force  of  our  own  on  hostile  territory,  we 
can  always  be  prepared,  in  case  of  failure,  to  take  it  off  again  ;  but  in 
this  Chouan  warfare,  if  anything  goes  wrong,  it  is  not  merely  the 
force  we  brought  that  has  to  be  rescued  but  the  poor  folk  of  all  the 
country-side  who  joined  with  them.  We  can  neither  provide  fc 
them  nor,  without  remorse,  abandon  them  to  their  fate.  These  are 
samples  of  the  difficulties  that  attend  us  in  France.  In  the  colonies 
and  on  the  sea  we  may  seek  our  indemnities  with  less  risk,  and  the 
captures  we  make  are  far  more  likely  to  remain  our  permanent 
possessions.  These  are  almost  overwhelming  arguments,  and  the 
principles  to  which  they  lead  were  in  the  main  approved  by  the 
'  31  Aug.  1794,  Add.  MS.  37874,  f.  56. 


XVlll  INTRODUCTION 

country  and  adopted  by  Pitt  in  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Not 
impossibly  they  are  the  only  principles  upon  which  the  war  could 
have  been  conducted.  The  question  involves  too  many  might-have- 
beens  to  be  answered  with  any  confidence,  and  we  are  bound  to 
respect  the  opinions  of  the  pilot  who  weathered  the  storm — if  indeed 
he  can  be  said  to  have  weathered  it,  who  died  in  one  of  its  blackest 
hours,  when  less  than  two-thirds  of  its  course,  counting  from  i  793 
to  181 5,  had  been  run.  At  any  rate,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
Burke's  policy  was  wholly  different.  It  has  been  described  as  a 
policy  founded  upon  fright,  and  certainly  Burke's  alarm  at  the 
advance  of  "  French  principles "  in  England  was  real  and  was 
exaggerated,  but  there  is  another  side  to  it.  His  war-policy  was  not 
timid  but  courageous,  perhaps  impractically  venturesome.  Captures 
of  islands  and  descents  upon  outlying  and  vulnerable  parts  of  the 
French  dominions  might  be  convenient,  but  they  did  not  commend 
themselves  to  him,  because  the  damage  they  inflicted  upon  the  enemy 
could  never  be  vital.  No  advantage  was  worth  gaining  which  did 
not  lie  directly  on  the  road  to  Paris.  We  were  not  at  war  with 
France  but  with  a  usurping  government.  France,  as  represented 
actively  by  the  Emigres,  passively  by  the  silent  masses  of  the  people 
suffering  under  Jacobin  tyranny,  was  our  friend  and  ally,  to  be 
assisted  with  our  whole  force.  A  plan  of  campaign  was  to  be 
adopted  which  left  no  thought  of  retreat.  Sympathy  with  the 
revolutionaries  in  England  was  to  be  repressed  with  stern  measures 
if  necessary,  but  in  the  main  to  be  countered  by  stirring  up  a  patriotic 
enthusiasm  for  the  war,  and  a  sympathetic  enthusiasm  for  the  royalist 
cause,  which  would  silence  the  minority.  The  possibility  or  im- 
possibility of  exciting  such  a  feeling  at  home  seems  to  me  the  really 
incalculable  element  in  the  problem  whether  Fo.x  or  Burke  or  Pitt 
was  right.  The  historian,  essaying  with  difficulty,  even  at  this 
distance  of  time,  to  take  an  impartial  view  of  the  controversy,  will 
feel  pretty  sure  that  Burke's  alarm  of  danger  at  home  was  exaggerated. 
He  will  see  this  most  clearly  perhaps  in  those  very  events  which 
seemed  to  contemporaries  to  touch  the  bottom  of  national  despair. 
The  mutiny  of  the  sailors  of  our  lately  victorious  fleet  appeared 
at  the  time  to  foreshow  the  loss  of  our  one  remaining  weapon  against 


INTRODUCTION  XIX 

revolution.  To  the  historian  it  seems  rather  that  the  moderation  of 
the  sailors'  original  demands  and  their  speedy  return  to  discipline, 
after  what  seemed  to  many  a  weak  surrender  by  the  government, 
were  examples  of  national  good  sense  even  in  its  lowest  classes,  and 
of  a  spirit  of  self-control  that  might  be  trusted  never  to  fall  into  the 
excesses  of  the  French,  and  that  they  foreshadowed  rather  the  real 
and  final  defeat  of  the  French  revolutionary  danger  to  England 
at  Trafalgar.  But  admitting  this  can  we  still  be  sure  that  English 
self-control  and  moderation  in  reform  would  have  been  equally  safe 
had  Fox  been  in  power?  Rather  I  think  we  must  say  that  it  was 
British  self-control  and  national  caution  and  common-sense  which 
precluded  the  possibility  of  Fox  coming  into  power  until  the  danger 
was  abated.  But  as  to  the  scheme  in  Burke's  mind,  was  the  patriotic 
enthusiasm  a  possibility  ?  If  Burke  had  been  a  second  Chatham,  in 
the  country  as  well  as  in  the  cabinet  a  great  war-minister,  would  he 
have  been  able  to  inspire  in  the  people  a  confidence  strong  enough 
to  loosen  their  purse-strings  for  unprecedented  expenditure,  to  the 
extent  required  for  effectively  supporting  by  British  arms  the 
royalists  of  La  Vendue  and  Brittany,  at  the  same  time  that  we  were 
providing  millions  in  subsidies  for  the  allies  ?  It  is  perhaps  an  even 
more  difficult  question  than  those  others  which  follow  upon  it.  If  he 
had  succeeded  in  finding  the  money,  was  sufficient  military  capacity 
forthcoming  to  make  effective  use  of  it .''  Would  the  ablest  dis- 
positions on  our  part  have  availed  to  counterbalance  that  factor  which 
in  the  event  appears  to  have  determined  the  course  of  history  for 
half  a  generation  to  come,  I  mean  the  genius  of  Bonaparte  ?  If  the 
Bourbons  had  actually  been  restored  would  the  second  revolution, 
which  was  doubtless  inevitable,  have  been  in  the  form  of  a  gradual 
and  peaceable  change  ?  Who  shall  answer  any  of  these  with 
confidence  ?  But  if  we  cannot  forget  that  great  and  unforeseeable 
factor,  neither  can  we  forget  the  long  line  of  accidents  through 
which  the  genius  of  Napoleon  came  into  play,  a  chain  of  events  so 
remarkable  that  had  all  the  possible  consequences  of  his  dictatorship 
been  present  to  the  mind  of  a  British  statesman,  we  must  neverthe- 
less suppose  that  he  would  have  been  amply  justified  in  acting  upon 
the  belief  that  the  chances  of  it  were  too  remote  to  be  worth  taking 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

into  account.     We  have  to  consider  that  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
war  Napoleon  is  still  in  his  Corsican  period,  so  bent  upon  purely 
Corsican  affairs  as  actually  in   1792  to  have  outstayed  his  leave  and 
lost  his  commission  in  the  French  army.     After  being  restored  to  it, 
and  as  late  as  August  1 793,  we  find  him  still  talking  to  Lucien  about 
the  possibility  of  abandoning  it  in  order  to  take  service  under  the 
British    East    India    Company,    as    affording    better    prospects    of 
advancement  to  a  good  artillery  officer  than  he  looked  for  in  France. 
At   the  end  of    1 793    his   opportunity    for    obtaining   at   home   the 
distinction  he  longed  for  came,  it  is  true,  but  are  we  sure  that  it  was 
not  the  inadequate  use  by  Great  Britain  of  the  advantage  gained  at 
Toulon  which  gave  him  the  opportunity  ?     Yet  a  few  weeks  later 
Bonaparte  as  a    Corsican  became  in    name  a    British    subject,   and 
though  actually  and  actively  employed  in  the  French  army  of  Italy, 
he  still  had  a  crisis  to  pass  through  in  which  we  may  well  speculate 
on    what    his    course    might    have    been,    had    a    slight     impulse 
from  without  been    present    to   determine    it,   for  in  July  occurred 
the  execution  of  his  principal  French  patrons,  the  Robespierres,  and 
the  danger  of  his  sharing  their  fate  was  considerable.      He  was,  in 
fact,  suspended  from  his  functions  and  for  a  time  imprisoned.      It 
would  of  course  be  possible  to  carry  the  chain  of  possibilities  still 
further.     There  were    narrowly-won    victories    in    the    campaign  of 
1796,  and  hairbreadth  escapes  in  his  career  at  least  as  late  as  the 
return  from  Egypt  in  1798.      But  in  the  main  we  may  well  feel  that 
England's  opportunity  was  in  the  first  two  years  of  the  war.     Greater 
activity    in    the    West    might    indeed   have    hampered    Bonaparte's 
victorious  campaigns  of  Italy,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pressure 
might  merely  have  brought  down  upon  the  invaders  a  hand  heavier 
even  than  that  of  Hoche.     After  October  1795  the  chances  of  our 
hypothetical    Chatham    Redivivus    were    probably   at    an    end,    the 
expenditure  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  still    to    be  added   to  the 
national  debt  before  181 5  a  necessity,  such  as  no  mere  variation  of 
British  policy  which  could  have  been  made  in  Burke's  lifetime  would 
have  materially  altered. 

J.   P.  GILSON. 


CHAPTER    I. 

FROM    1783   TO   THE   OUTBREAK    OF   THE 
FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

The  first  two  letters  of  the  correspondence  refer  to  Windham's  brief 
tenure  of  the  Chief  Secretaryship  of  Ireland.  It  is  not  necessary 
here  to  enter  fully  into  the  history  of  this  episode.  In  going  to 
Ireland  as  secretary  to  Lord  Northington  Windham  had  his  first 
introduction  into  political  office,  but  it  was  an  entry  by  a  blind  alley. 
The  cause  or  the  excuse  of  his  speedy  return  was  a  severe  attack  of 
ill  health.  In  a  private  letter  to  Hippisley  Windham  speaks  of  it 
rather  as  the  excuse.  It  may,  however,  be  doubted  whether  that  lack 
of  self-confidence,  and  difficulty  in  steady  application,  which  are  such 
marked  characteristics  of  his  earlier  period  and  colour  so  strongly 
the  Diary,  were  not,  to  a  greater  extent  than  he  knew,  due  to 
physical  causes.  In  any  case  it  is  certain  that  he  had  accepted  an 
uncongenial  office^  under  pressure  from  his  friends  and  with  great 
reluctance. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  ff.   I,  2.) 

Charles  Street, 

Tuesday,  May  5,  1783. 
My  dear  Sir, 

When   I   spoke  to  you  of  our  friend  Marlay%  w''^  was 

almost  at  the  Instant  of  your  entering  into  office,  though  I  did  throw 

out  something  concerning  his  Irish  connexions,  I  dwelt  chiefly  upon 

'  As  to  contemporary  views  of  this  office  what  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  wrote  to  his  wife 
concerning  one  of  Windham's  successors  in  the  Secretaryship  in  1787  is  to  the  point: 
"  Fitzherbert's  taste  is  so  good  and  delicate,  and  his  health  so  bad  and  delicate,  that 
I  think  he  cannot  possibly  survive  it.  That  office  requires  nerves  and  bad  taste,  as 
Windham  proved  by  flying  from  it." 

'  Richard  Marlay,  Dean  of  Ferns,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  1787,  and  of 
Waterford  1795 — 1802. 

B.-W.  C.  T 


2  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

that  which  I  felt  most,  and  was  sure  you  would  feel  most,  his  abilities, 
his  honour  and  integrity,  and  the  wonderful  kindness,  sociability  and 
pleasantness  of  his  Nature,  w'''^  has  won  him  the  Love  of  all  that 
know  him,  and  that  remember  him  to  be  invariable  in  those  qualities 
for  a  much  longer  course  of  years  than  they  ought  to  have  taken 
to  carry  him  to  the  highest  things  in  his  profession.      I  spoke  then  to 
your  Sentiments  ;  now  permit  me  to  say  a  word  to  you  as  a  poli- 
tician.     I  really  think  it  would  be  highly  advantageous  to  my  Lord 
Lieutenant  to  attach  Marlay  to  his  person,  to  make  him  the  Object 
of  his  particular  protection  and  as  it  were  the  man  of  his  own  Choice. 
You  know  he  is  Uncle  to  Grattan,  and  you  must  be  sensible  how 
much  the  success  of  Lord  Northington's  administration  will  depend 
not  only  on  Grattan's   formal   assistance  but  upon  his  cordial  and 
earnest  support,  and  I  am  misinformed  about  him  if  he  is  not  a  man 
to  be  much   more   taken  with   an  attention  of  this  sort,   than  any 
compliance  with  a  regular  request,  w'''^  he  is  well  entitled  to  make, 
and  w*^'^  when  he  makes,  wld.  not  be  refused  ;  though  the  doing  it 
will  not  be  a  favour  in  the  same  kind  and  of  the  same  effect  with 
that  I  propose.     M''  Grattan  is  not  only  a  great  Card  himself,  but 
the  whole  fund  of  L<*  Northington's  friends  in  Ireland  are  so  closely 
united  with  him,  that  an  Obligation  conferred  on  him  will  very  much 
affect  them   all.      He  is  likewise  so  very  well   with   the    Duke  of 
Leinster  and  Connolly',  that  though  they  may  have  persons  nearer 
to  them  in  politicks  (w'=^  by  the  way  I  don't  know)  I  do  not  believe 
they  have  any  Church  man  nearer  to  their  Esteem  and  affections. 
The  Lord  Lieutenant's  second  choice  is  usually  given  to  an   Irish 
Interest,  and  I  conceive  it  would  be  a  very  well  understood  thing, 
if   Lord    Northington    should    appear   to    anticipate    the  wishes    of 
people  of  great  weight  on  that  side  of  the  Water,  by  paying  them 
the  Compliment  of  making  the  Dean  of  Femes  his  second  Chaplain 
without   any  previous    sollicitation    on    their   part ;    M^  Dixon   has 
the  first  claim,  and   the   most  forcible  upon  every  principle,   now 
Dr   Farrant    is   taken   off  your   hands    by   the    Duke  of   Pordand. 
Excuse,  my  d'"  Windham,  the   Freedom  w'^''  your  great  partiality 

>  Thomas  ConoUy,  Irish  M.P.  for  co.  Londonderry,  an  influential  politician  and 
afterwards  one  of  the  strongest  supporters  of  the  Union. 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  3 

has  encouraged  me  to  take  with  you  :  the  Interest  of  one  of  the 
oldest  friends  I  have  in  the  world  is  certainly  one  of  my  Motives 
in  pressing  this  affair,  but  a  regard  to  you,  and  your  honour  and 
satisfaction,  and  the  advantage  of  a  Government,  in  the  success  of 
w'^'^  the  Duke  of  Portland,  the  dearest  and  most  honour'd  name  to 
me  that  exists,  is  so  deeply  concern'd  is  far  from  being  excluded. 


I  am  ever  with  the  most  sincere  regard  and  Esteem, 

My  d'"  Sir, 
Your  most  faithful  and  obed^  humble  Ser* 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  3-) 


June  10,   1783'. 

My  dear  Wyndham, 

I  suppose  you  by  this  time  gone  through  all  the  Cere- 
monies of  your  inauguration.  When  that  or  any  other  troublesome 
Business  abates,  be  so  good  to  yourself,  to  me,  and  to  my  friend, 
to  pass  some  of  your  time  with  Lord  Inchiquin^  He  is  a  man  of 
the  first  Rank,  and  nearly  allied  to  those  of  the  first  Rank  in  that 
Country.  You  will  find  him  a  man  of  the  very  best  political  and 
social  principles,  honest,  candid,  sincere,  friendly.  Let  me  add  that 
he  has  for  near  twenty  years  been  very  particularly  partial  to  me. 
So  cultivate  him  and  I  shall  be  obliged  to  you. 

I  believe  I  mention'd  to  you  young  Leland,  the  son  of  D'"  Leland', 
an  author  with  whose  Works  and  reputation  you  are  are*  acquainted. 
Pray  see  and  countenance  this  young  Gentleman.  It  is  all  that  I 
am  desired  to  do  ;  and  pray  let  me  have  the  credit  of  having  obey'd 

'  Endorsed,  Received  21='. 

'  Murrough  O'Bryen,  5th  Earl  of  Inchiquin,  afterwards  ist  Marquis  of  Thomond. 

'  Dr  Thomas  Leland,  the  historian  of  Ireland. 

«  sic. 


4  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

his  father's  Commands  in  this  particular.  God  bless  you  and  give 
you  a  good  deliverance.  When  you  have  been  jumbled  a  little  into 
the  Country,  pray  let  me  hear  from  you. 

Ever  my  d^  Sir, 
most  sincerely  and  affectionately  y" 

Edm.  Burke. 

Pray  make  my  humble  duty  to  my  Lord  Lieutenant. 


The  two  Burke  letters  of  1784  and  the  three  of  1785  are  not 
of  much  importance,  but  they  illustrate  the  growth  of  a  political 
connexion  between  Windham,  now  (since  April  1784)  a  member 
of  parliament,  and  Fox,  Burke  and  the  Duke  of  Pordand.  One 
of  them  has  another  interest  particularly  appropriate  to  the  present 
time.  It  refers  to  Windham's  participation  in^  one  of  the  earliest 
balloon  ascents  made  in  England,  that  of  ThomaG*  Sadler.  Burke 
goes  perhaps  too  far  in  calling  Windham  "the  first  rational  being 
that  has  ever  taken  flight,"  but  it  would  not  be  too  much  to  say 
that  he  was  the  most  self-conscious  of  the  early  aeronauts.  The 
original  notes  in  which  he  described  his  sensations  during  the 
voyage  are  preserved  in  Add.  MS.  37925.  Later  in  the  same 
year  (Aug. — Sept.  1 785)  Burke  and  Windham  travelled  together 
in  Scotland. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  5-) 

Beaconsfield, 

Thursday,  14  Oct.  1784. 
My  dear  Sir, 

The  Duke  of  Portland  intends  to  be  here  on  Sunday. 
I  know  how  much  it  will  add  to  his  satisfaction  if  you  should  find 
it  convenient  to  meet  him  here  on  that  day :  and  I  believe  you  will 
like  your  Company. 

I    have  been    in   town   for  a   day  or  two.     I    dined    at    Foxes 
anniversary.      The    meeting    was    numerous    and   they    were    very 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  5 

Steady  and  in  very  good  humour  with  one  another,  with  him  and 
with  their  cause.  As  to  any  plan  of  Conduct  in  our  Leaders  there 
are  not  the  faintest  Traces  of  it,  nor  does  it  seem  to  occurr  to  them 
that  any  such  thing  is  necessary.  Accordingly  every  thing  is  left 
to  accidents  :  and  I  thought  Fox  had  great  Faith  in  the  Chapter  of 
that  Scripture.  He  was  well  and  in  good  spirits.  My  Brother,  he 
and  I  dined  at  S""  Joshua  Reynolds'. 

M^^  Burke  and  Richard  salute  you  affectionately. 

I  am,  My  dear  Sir, 
Your  most  faithful  and  obed''  humble  Ser'' 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  7-) 


Beconsfield, 

Friday,  Oct.  15,  1784. 
My  de.\r  Sir, 

I  have  written  to  you  by  the  Post  to  beg  y""  Company 
here  on  Sunday.  The  D.  of  Portland  is  to  be  with  us.  I  cannot 
promise  you  any  body  else  positively.  But  he  is  muUorum  instar, 
in  his  own  intrinsick  value  and  in  his  regard  to  you. 

Ever  most  sincerely  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  9-) 

[Endorsed,  May  -jth,  1785.] 
My  d'=  Sir, 

What  time  will  you  receive  the  congratulations  of  your 
Terrestial    friends    on    your    return   to   mortality  ?       O    pater  anne 


6  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

aliquas iterumque  ad  tarda  reverti  corpora  ? '  the  rest  does  not 

hold  exactly  in  the  words.  I  really  long  to  converse  with  you  on 
this  Voyage,  as  I  think  you  are  the  first  rational  being  that  has 
taken  flight. 

Adieu  Star  triumphant  and  some  Pity  show 
On  us  poor  batlers  militant  below. 

Y^®  sincerely 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  II.) 


Monday  morn. 

[Endorsed,  Nov.  2\st,  1785.] 

My  d''  Sir, 

My  Brother  tells  me  that  you  still  remain  in  town,  and 
not  in  the  best  health.  These  are  things  not  unnaturally  sorted. 
You  have  missed  the  good  season  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  so  that 
we  have  fewer  inducements  to  lead  you  hither.  However  even  in 
Winter  the  air  of  this  place  is  not  so  smoaky  as  that  of  London, 
and  M''^  Burke  thinks  this  house  not  the  worst  Hospital  for  con- 
valescents. Besides  the  pleasure  you  will  give  those  who  love  and 
value  you  sincerely  will  be  a  sort  of  medicine  to  such  a  constitution 

as  yours. 

Ever  most  faithfully 

Y'-^  &c. 


Edm.  Burke. 


I  send  this  by  a  friend  going  to  town. 


No  letters  of  Burke's  to  Windham  for  1786  or  1787  are  pre- 
served, but  casual  references  in  the  Diary  show  that  the  intercourse 

'  Virgil,  Aen.  vi.  719,  720: 

O  pater  anne  aliquas  ad  caelum  hinc  ire  putandum  est 
Sublimes  animas,  iterumque  ad  tarda  reuerti 
Corpora  ? 


WINDHAM    TO 


was  by  no  means  intermitted,  though  it  did  not  always  run  quite 
smoothly.  Sometimes,  it  appears  (25  April  1787),  they  "talked 
more  than  I  could  have  wished  about  India,  though  not  in  any 
way  that  was  improper."  On  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  upon 
the  topic  of  the  Prince  of  Wales'  marriage  to  Mrs  Fitzherbert, 
Burke  "descanted  in  a  strain  of  superior  wisdom,"  but  on  3  May 
following  was  "peevish  and  impatient  in  the  morning  because  I 
would  not  stay  when  he  supposed  he  had  something  to  say  to  me." 
Early  in  1788  it  was  decided  that  Windham  should  take  part  in 
the  impeachment  of  Hastings,  but  there  was  considerable  delay 
before  the  occasion  came.  In  the  autumn  he  travelled  for  about 
twelve  weeks  in  France  and  Switzerland.  The  following  letter  to 
an  unidentified  correspondent  seems  worth  inserting  in  reference  to 
the  important  events  which  occurred  soon  after  his  return. 

Windham  to  . 


(Add.  MS.  37873,  f.  159.) 

Hill  Str., 

Nov.  26,  1788. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  wish  it  had  occurred  to  me  sooner,  that  from  motives 
at  least  of  general  anxiety,  if  not  from  any  concerns  of  business 
capable  of  being  affected  by  such  causes,  you  might  have  been  glad 
to  receive  the  best  accounts  that  were  to  be  had  of  the  King's 
situation.  It  has  been  the  fashion  hitherto,  and  till  lately  was  not 
an  improper  one,  to  speak  of  his  Majesty's  disorder  in  such  obscure 
terms,  as  left  the  nature  of  it  quite  uncertain  ;  or  if  it  was  mentioned 
more  particularly,  to  describe  it  as  a  fever.  It  were  much  to  be 
wished  that  fever  had  more  to  do  with  it ;  but  the  fact  has  long 
been  understood  to  be,  that  whatever  fever  his  Majesty  has  had, 
has  been  only  symptomatick,  and  not  at  all  the  cause  of  his  dis- 
order, which  is  pure  and  original  insanity.  The  symptoms  of  this 
have  been  increasing  by  slow  degrees,  and  for  a  considerable  period. 
There  is  reason  to  think  that  before  his  journey  to  Cheltenham  some 
of  these  had  appeared  and  been  noted  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that. 


8  WINDHAM    TO 


immediately  after,  the  appearances  were  so  strong  at  his  lev^e,  that 
the  foreign  ministers  all  remarked  them,  and  thought  them  of  such 
consequence  as  instantly  to  write  an  account  of  them  to  their 
courts.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  Physicians  being  called  in, 
and  means  being  taken  to  prevent  his  Majesty  from  being  seen  any 
more  in  publick,  is  said  to  have  happened  during  an  airing  he  was 
taking  in  a  Phaeton  with  the  Princess  Royal. — If  there  were  any 
hopes  of  the  King's  recovery  from  this  state,  so  speedily  as  to  render 
the  substitution  of  any  other  government  unnecessary,  his  situation 
could  not  be  concealed  with  too  much  care  ;  but  the  moment  that 
ceases  to  be  the  case,  too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  to  make  it 
known  publickly  and  authentically.  The  greatest  aggravation,  which 
such  a  calamity  could  receive, — and  a  calamity  certainly  it  is  so  far 
as  relates  to  the  feelings  of  every  one  who  hears  it, — would  be, 
that  it  sh''  be  subject  to  any  doubt  and  suspicion.  If  the  King  of  a 
country  is  completely  out  of  his  mind,  whatever  sorrow  may  be  felt 
for  the  moment,  the  extent  of  the  evil  is,  however,  known  :  It  is, 
for  the  time  it  lasts,  just  as  if  the  King  were  dead.  The  same 
persons  must  upon  all  principles  of  reason,  and  all  views  of  the 
Constitution,  carry  on  the  Government,  as  if  the  King  were  actually 
dead.  Should  he  again  be  restored  completely  to  his  senses,  the 
case  is  then  equally  clear:  He  must  be  restored  completely  to  his 
government.  Whatever  other  opinions  are  broached  or  thrown  out 
in  conversation  by  persons  on  either  side,  that  seems  to  me  to  be 
the  plain  sense  of  the  matter,  as  one  may  possibly  have  to  declare 
or  act  upon  at  least  before  many  days. — The  only  case  of  danger 
and  distress  is  where  the  sanity  or  insanity  of  a  Monarch  should  be 
not  clearly  ascertained,  or  not  generally  known.  To  guard  against 
that  in  the  instance  now  before  us,  I  think  accounts  should  have 
been  given  less  ambiguous,  less  sophisticated,  and  less  false,  than 
have  been  industriously  propagated  for  some  time  past :  and  what- 
ever motives  of  delicacy  and  prudence  might  have  prevailed  at 
first,  as  undoubtedly  there  were  many,  the  case  seems  now  to  be 
so  decided,  the  actual  insanity  to  be.  so  complete,  and  the  hopes  of 
it  ever  ceasing  so  small,  that  any  attempt  further  to  disguise  it  will 
lye  open  to  very  uncreditable  suspicions. 


WINDHAM    TO 


I  have  troubled  you  with  these  particulars,  thinking  that  you  and 
M''  Hatfield  might  be  anxious  at  least  to  know  upon  this  subject, 
what  is  to  be  had  on  good  authority,  and  am 

Dear  Sir,  your  very  obedient 

and  faithful  humble  serv*^ 


W.  Windham. 


The  "  plough  "  mentioned  in  Burke's  next  letter  is  presumed  to 
be  some  part  of  the  Warren  Hastings  affair. 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-   1 3-) 

Christmas  Day,  1788. 

My  dear  Sir 

I  am  not  very  much  pleased,  as  you  may  believe,  with 
losing  yours  and  Foxes  company.  It  was  some  loss  to  you,  I  am 
persuaded,  as  you  love  to  gratifye  your  friends ;  and  as  I  was 
resolved  to  keep  completely  aloof  from  all  politicks  of  any  sort, 
to  give  some  sort  of  truce  to  your   Minds.     Alas!    I   may  not  see 

either  of  you  tomorrow.     This  cursed but  much  spittle  must 

be  swallowed,  tho'  it  create  Bile  elsewhere.  I  will  not  say  the 
whole,  but  I  am  sure,  the  much  greater  part  of  the  Evil  arises 
from  the  spirit  of  intrigue,  and  of  a  Trust  in  the  fidelity  of  Perfidy 
and  fraud.     Well !  Well !  Well ! 

However,  on  comparing  every  thing,  I  think  we  may  reckon 
on  seeing  you.  We  had  prepared  our  Infirmary  for  Fox, — every 
Room  thoroughly  warmed,  and  the  Hall  too,  that  the  Passages 
might  not  defeat  the  good  effect  of  the  Rooms.  As  to  him  I  think, 
either  the  same  or  some  other  Business  of  not  half  the  importance 
of  what  might  be  serviceable  to  his  health  may  detain  him.  If, 
unfortunately,  things  should  so  turn  out,  that  he  cannot  come, 
suppose  you  bring  S""  Gilbert^  with  you.  I  hope  he  has  been  hard 
and  fast  at  finishing  his  Ideas.      I  am  exceedingly  happy,  that  you 

^  Elliot,  afterwards  Earl  of  Minto. 
B.-w.  c.  2 


lO  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

have  set  your  hand  to  this  plough — for  Httle  and  triffling  as  it  is, 
if  men  not  occupied  in  higher  things  will  decline  it,  men,  even  such 
men  as  you,  must  undertake  it.  But  things  more  fit  for  you  will 
call  you,  and  you  will  not  decline  them. — This  news  from  Norwich 
gives  me  very  great  pleasure.  Your  remark  is  certainly  right,  now 
is  the  time  to  push  ;  and  I  am  sure  if  we  looked  to  the  publick, 
instead  of  individuals,  these  individuals  would  be  forced  to  submit  to 
the  publick,  whom  we  cannot  gain  by  any  efforts  of  ours. 

Adieu.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  will  get  this  before  twelve — 
your  answer  you  will  bring  yourself.  Adieu.  A  thousand  thanks  for 
what  you  are  doing,  and  that  the  highest  principles  make  you  submit 
to  low  drudgery. 

ever  y''^ 

Edm.  Burke. 


The  long  letter  which  follows  has  been  printed  before,  nor  can 
it  be  said  that  anything  in  the  unpublished  Windham  correspond- 
ence throws  any  important  new  light  on  the  minds  of  his  political 
associates  during  the  crisis  of  the  regency  question.  Luckily,  how- 
ever, the  published  letters  of  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  and  other  authorities 
have  made  the  state  of  affairs  sufficiently  clear.  The  "  strong 
expectation  of  things  coming  about,"  or  in  other  words  that  the 
Prince,  as  Regent,  would  bring  in  the  Whigs,  and  the  consequent 
attempts  at  provisional  Cabinet  making  are  fully  set  out  in  Elliot's 
private  letters  to  his  wifeS  and  quite  recently  Mr  Sichel's  publica- 
tion, in  his  Sheridan,  of  a  sort  of  diary  by  Georgiana,  Duchess  of 
Devonshire,  for  this  period,  has  added  a  large  amount  of  detail  to 
our  information.  The  singular  fact  that  at  this  time  Burke  was 
not  considered  suitable  for  high  office  even  by  those  who  sincerely 
believed  it  "impossible  to  do  too  much  for  him"  has  been  thoroughly 
discussed  by  Lord  Morley. 

^  See  especially  the  letter  of  lo  Jan.  1789,  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Minto,  i.  p.  260, 
quoted  by  Lord  Morley  in  his  Burke  (Engl.  Men  of  Letters),  p.  138. 


burke  to  windham  i  i 

Burke   to    Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.   in.   88.) 

Beconsfield, 

Jati.  24,  1789. 

I  Stayed  at  Brooks'  on  Tuesday  night  in  hopes  of  seeing  you, 
until  after  twelve.  I  had  a  good  deal  of  discourse  with  Pelham', 
who  gave  me  leave  to  flatter  myself  that  you  and  he  might  dine  with 
me  and  pass  a  night  here  between  this  and  Monday.  We  have 
means  of  feeding  you,  though  without  our  cook,  but  the  dairy-maid 
is  not  a  bad  hand  at  a  pinch  ;  and  we  have  just  killed  a  sheep, 
which,  though  large  and  fat,  is,  I  believe,  full  six  years  old,  and  very 
fine  meat.  I  have  already,  I  think,  received  some  small  benefit  to 
my  health  by  coming  into  the  country;  but  this  view  to  health, 
though  far  from  unnecessary  to  me,  was  not  the  chief  cause  of  my 
present  retreat.  I  began  to  find  that  I  was  grown  rather  too 
anxious ;  and  had  begun  to  discover  to  myself  and  to  others  a 
solicitude  relative  to  the  present  state  of  affairs,  which,  though  their 
strange  condition  might  well  warrant  it  in  others,  is  certainly  less 
suitable  to  my  time  of  life,  in  which  all  emotions  are  less  allowed ; 
and  to  which,  most  certainly,  all  human  concerns  ought  in  reason  to 
become  more  indifferent,  than  to  those  who  have  work  to  do,  and  a 
good  deal  of  day,  and  of  inexhausted  strength  to  do  it  in.  I  sin- 
cerely wish  to  withdraw  myself  from  this  scene  for  good  and  all ;  but, 
unluckily,  the  India  business  binds  me  in  point  of  honour ;  and,  whilst 
I  am  waiting  for  that,  comes  across  another  of  a  kind  totally  different 
from  any  that  has  hitherto  been  seen  in  this  country,  and  which  has 
been  attended  with  consequences  very  different  from  those  which 
ought  to  have  been  expected  in  this  country,  or  in  any  country,  from 
such  an  event.  It  is  true  I  had  been  taught  by  some  late  proceedings, 
and  by  the  character  of  the  person  principally  concerned,  to  look  for 
something  extraordinary.  With  a  strong  sense  of  this,  my  opinion 
was  that  the  prince  ought  to  have  dotie  what  has  been  said  it  was 
his  right  to  do  ;  and  which  might  have  been  as  safely  done  as  was 

'  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham,  afterwards  2nd  Earl  of  Chichester. 


12  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

unsafely  said.      He  ought  himself  to  have  gone  down  to  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  to  them  by  himself,  and  to  the  House  of  Commons 
by  message,  to  have  desired  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  two 
Houses.      His  friends  would  then  have  been  the  proposers,  and  his 
enemies  the  opposers,  which  would    have  been  a  great  advantage. 
The  proceedings  in  council  ought  also  to  have  originated  from  him  ; 
whereas  we  admitted  the  official  ministers  as  the  king's  C07ijidential 
servants,  when  he  had  no  confidence  to  give.      The  plans  originated 
from  them.     We  satisfied  ourselves  with  the  place  of  objectors  and 
opposers, — a  weak  post  always ;  and  we  went  out  with  the  spirit — 
(if  it  may  be  so  called)  of  inferiority,  and  of  a  mere  common  oppo- 
sition, with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Regent  in  designation,  and  future 
King,   at  our  head  ;    he    unable    to  support  us,  and  we  unable  to 
support  him.     Though  I  went  to  town  strongly  impressed  with  this 
idea,   which   I   stated  to   Fox,   when   I   saw  him  in  his  bed,  and  to 
others,  it  met  so  ill  a  reception  from  all  to  whom  I  mentioned  it,  and 
it  seemed  then  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  men  who  remained  in 
place,  (as  Pitt  and  the  Chancellor  did,)  without  character  or  efficiency 
in  law,    were  under  an  exclusive  obligation  to  take  the  lead  ;   and 
some  were  of  opinion  that  they  ought  to  be  called  upon  and  stimu- 
lated to  the  production  of  their  plans,   I  was  really  overborne  with 
this,  I   may  say,  almost  universal  conceit ;  so  much  so,  that  I  gave 
over  pressing  my  own,  and  wrote  to  my  brother,  then  here,  that  I 
found  it  necessary  to  give  it  up,  and  even  to  change  it ;  and  on  this 
he  wrote  me  a  strong  remonstrance.     Afterwards  I  was  little  con- 
sulted.    This  error  of  ours   (if   such    it    was)  is  fundamental,  and 
perhaps  the  cause  of  all  our  subsequent  disasters.      I  don't  trouble 
you  with  these   remarks   as  complaining  of  what  was  done,  or  as 
laying  too  much  weight  on  my  first  opinions.      In  truth,  things  have 
turned  out  so  contrary  to   all    my   rational    speculation  in  several 
instances,  that   I  dare  not  be  very  positive  in  what  appears  to  me 
most  advisable,  nor  am  I  at  all  disposed  very  severely  to  censure 
the  proceedings  most  adverse  to  my  own  ideas.      I  throw  out  these 
things  to  you,  and  wish  to  put  you  in  possession  of  my  thoughts, 
that,  if  they  meet  with  a  reception  in  your  mind,  you  may  urge  them 
in  time  and  place  with  a  force  which   for  many   reasons   (perhaps 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  1 3 

some  of  personal  fault,  or  defect,  or  excess  in  myself,  but  most 
certainly  from  a  sort  of  habit  of  having  what  I  suggest  go  for 
nothing,)  I  can  no  more  hope  for.  I  look  back  to  any  thing  that 
has  been  done  or  omitted,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  guide  our 
proceedings  in  future.  In  the  first  place  I  observe  that  though  there 
have  been  a  very  few  consultations  upon  particular  measures,  there 
have  been  none  at  all  de  summa  rerum.  It  has  never  been  dis- 
cussed, whether,  all  things  taken  together,  in  our  present  situation, 
it  would  not  be  the  best  or  least  evil  course,  for  the  public  and 
the  prince,  and  possibly  in  the  end  for  the  party,  that  the  prince 
should  surrender  himself  to  his  enemies  and  ours.  Of  one  thing 
I  am  quite  certain,  that  if  the  two  Houses  animated  by  a  number 
of  addresses  to  the  prince  and  of  instructions  to  the  members  should 
be  bold  enough  to  reserve  all  their  pretended  principles  (as  in  case 
of  such  addresses,  and  instructions  they  certainly  will  do)  and 
demand  of  the  prince-regent  to  keep  in  these  ministers,  I  believe  it 
will  be  found  very  difficult,  if  not  absolutely  impossible,  to  resist  such 
a  requisition.  It  has  always  hitherto  been  thought  wise,  rather  to 
foresee  such  an  extremity,  and  to  act  in  the  foresight,  than  to  submit 
to  it  when  it  happens  ;  to  make  peace  whilst  there  is  some  faint 
appearance  of  choice  left  on  the  subject,  has  hitherto  been  the  policy. 
If  that  surrender  should  be  thought  necessary,  then  it  will  be  for 
the  consideration  of  our  friends,  how  to  do  it  in  the  manner  most 
honourable  to  themselves,  and  the  best  fitted  to  make  an  impression 
on  the  public  ;  and  this,  I  think,  would  best  be  done  in  the  way  of 
a  strong,  well-reasoned  memorial  on  the  subject,  advising  the  prince, 
for  the  sake  of  the  public  tranquillity,  and  to  prevent  further  outrages 
on  the  constitution,  to  yield  to  the  present  exigence,  thanking  him  for 
the  justice  he  was  willing  to  do  to  the  king's  subjects,  and  for  his 
equity  in  delaying  so  long  to  yield  to  so  wicked  a  proscription  as 
that  projected.  This,  in  my  poor  judgment,  ought  to  be  signed 
by  all  the  lords  and  commoners  amongst  us,  and  possibly  by  other 
notables  in  the  country;  and  then,  without  a  formal  secession,  to 
absent  ourselves  from  parliament  until  favourable  circumstances 
should  call  us  to  it.  I  am  far  from  being  certain  that  this  method 
(this  of  yielding,)  would  not  be  the  best,  considering  who  the  prince 


14'  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

is,  and  who,  and  of  what  stuff,  we  are.  But  if  we  choose  the  other 
way,  which  is  at  all  events  to  fight  it  out,  against  a  majority  in  the 
two  Houses  and  a  very  great,  bold,  and  active  party  without  doors 
making,  for  aught  I  know,  the  majority  of  the  Nation,  then  I  am 
sure  we  ought  to  prepare  ourselves  for  such  a  combat  in  a  different 
manner,  and  to  act  in  it  with  a  very  different  spirit,  from  any  thing 
which  has  ever  yet  appeared  amongst  us.  In  the  first  place  we 
ought  to  change  that  tone  of  calm  reasoning  which  certainly  does 
not  belong  to  great  and  affecting  interests,  and  which  has  no  effect 
but  to  chill  and  discourage  those,  upon  whose  active  exertions  we 
must  depend  much  more  than  on  their  cold  judgment.  Our  style 
of  argument,  so  very  different  from  that  by  which  Lord  North  was 
run  down,  has  another  ill-effect.  I  know  it  increases  the  boldness 
of  some  of  those  who  are  thus  bold,  less  from  the  courage  of  their 
original  temperament  than  from  the  air  of  inferiority,  debasement, 
and  dejection,  under  which  we  have  appeared  for  some  years  past. 
In  daring  every  thing  they  see  they  risk  nothing.  Far  from  appre- 
hending any  mischief  from  our  future  just  resentment,  they  are  not 
troubled  with  any  degree  of  present  disgrace,  or  even  with  a  hard 
word,  or  a  reflection  on  their  character, — two  or  three  trifling 
instances  excepted.  I  suppose  a  more  excellent  speech  than  Fox's 
last  has  never  been  delivered  in  any  House  of  Parliament ;  full  of 
weighty  argument,  eloquently  enforced,  and  richly,  though  soberly 
decorated.  But  we  must  all  be  sensible  that  it  was  a  speech  which 
might  be  spoken  upon  an  important  difference  between  the  best 
friends,  and  where  the  parties  had  the  very  best  opinion  of  each 
other's  general  intentions  for  the  public  good.  AP"  Pitt  commended, 
as  he  had  reason  to  do,  the  singular  moderation  of  a  speech  M'"  Fox 
had  made  before,  with  an  oblique  reflection  on  those  who  had 
debated  in  another  manner.  If  a  foreseen  coalition  with  M''  Pitt 
should  make  this  style  of  debate  advisable  for  M'"  Fox,  the  word 
ought  to  be  given  to  others,  who  may  bring  much  mischief  on  them- 
selves, when  such  a  coalition  shall  be  made,  for  having  spoken  of 
M''  Pitt's  conduct  as  highly  corrupt,  factious,  and  criminal  ;  and  in 
the  mean  time,  they  may  be  considered  as  hot  and  intemperate 
zealots  of  a  party,  with  the  main  springs  of  whose  politics  they  are 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  1 5 

not  acquainted,  so  far  as  to  the  general  style  of  debate.  I  will 
trouble  you,  on  this  point,  with  a  word  on  the  use  we  may  make  of 
the  degree  of  strength  we  possess  in  both  Houses  : — We  are  a 
minority;  but  then  we  are  a  very  large  minority;  and  I  never  knew 
an  instance  in  which  such  numbers  did  not  keep  a  majority  in  con- 
siderable awe.  This  was  the  case  in  a  parliament  of  recognized 
authority.  But  in  the  present  case  it  is  universally  admitted  that 
the  acts  of  the  two  Houses  are  not  legal,  but  to  be  legalized  here- 
after, and  that  our  proceedings  are  not  founded  upon  any  thing  but 
necessity.  The  submission  therefore  of  the  smaller  number  to  the 
greater  is  a  mere  voluntary  act,  and  not  an  acquiescence  in  a  legal 
decision.  I  see  no  sort  of  reason  to  hinder  us  from  protesting  on 
the  journals  ;  or  if  they  prevent  us  from  that,  from  publishing  strong 
manifestoes  signed  with  our  names.  Our  conduct  cannot  be  more 
irregular  than  theirs.  If  it  is  objected  that  this  principle  might 
lead  us  a  great  deal  further,  I  confess  it ;  but  then,  their  principle 
would  lead  them  further  too ;  and  they  have,  in  fact,  gone  to  ten 
times  worse  and  more  serious  lengths  against  the  substance  and  the 
solid  maxims  of  our  government,  than  we  can  be  suspected  of  going, 
who,  should  we  take  the  steps  I  suggest,  only  trespass  against  form 
and  decorum.  But  whilst  they  neither  attend  to  form  or  to  substance, 
and  while  we  are  the  slaves  of  form,  it  is  self  evident  that  we  do  not 
engage  upon  equal  terms.  I  do  not  dwell  upon  this  point  so  much 
for  the  sake  of  this  measure  (which  I  wish  rather  we  did  not  think 
forbidden  than  that  I  pressingly  recommend)  but  for  another  and 
more  serious  reason.  When  I  consider  the  change  of  M'"  Pitt's 
language,  I  am  convinced  that  an  intention  is  entertained  of 
addressing  the  prince  to  keep  him  in  power.  To  the  last  day's 
debate  he  constantly  spoke  of  himself  as  virtually  out  of  place,  and 
of  M""  Fox  as  minister  in  certain  designation.  That  day  he  totally 
changed  his  note.  His  friend  M""  Rolle  had  arrived  with  his  address 
from  Devonshire.  Are  any  on  our  part  to  advise  the  prince  not  to 
comply  with  that  address  ?  Or  are  we  to  consider  ourselves  as 
bound  by  the  faith  which  M""  Sheridan  has  held  on  the  part  of  the 
prince  that  he  will  comply  with  the  requisition  of  the  House  of 
Commons  ?     To   what  to  attribute  the  two  voluntary  declarations 


1 6  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

made  by  Sheridan  on  that  subject,  especially  the  last,  I  am  wholly 
at  a  loss.      If  the  prince  has  authorized  him  to  speak  in  this  manner, 
all  that  I  have  said,  or  have  to  say,  on  this  side  of  the  alternative,  is 
vain  and  useless.     We  must  submit,  and  there  is  an  end  of  it.     Even 
without  this  declaration,  the  difficulty  in  opposing  such  an  address, 
though  from  an   House  framed  on  principles  directly  contradictory 
to  those  addresses,  would  be  very  great.      I  should  contend  as  much 
as  any  one,   perhaps  more,   for  the  constitutional  propriety  of  the 
king's  submitting,  in  every  part  of  his  executive  government  to  the 
advice  of  parliament.     But  this,  like  every  other  principle,  can  bear 
a   practical   superstructure  of  only  a  certain    weight.      If  the    two 
Houses,  without  any  sort  of  reason,  merely  from  faction  and  caprice, 
should  attempt  to  arrogate  to  themselves,  under  the  name  of  advice, 
the  whole  power  and  authority  of  the  crown,  the  monarchy  would  be 
an  useless  incumbrance  on  the  country,  if  it  were  not  able  to  make  a 
stand  against  such  attempts.      If,  then,  such  a  stand  is  to  be  made, 
my  opinion  is,  first,   that  the  way  ought  to  be  prepared  for  it  by 
a  previous  strong  remonstrance  to  the   House  of   Commons  from 
Westminster  against  their  whole  proceedings.      I   am  told  we  may 
depend  upon  Westminster.      If  we  may,   then   I   think  it,   from  its 
vicinity  and  the  habitation  in  it  of  so  many  people  from  all  parts  of 
the  kingdom  (which  make  it  a  sort  of  general  representative  of  the 
whole),  of  more  importance  than  any  other  whatsoever,  if  properly 
used,  and  if  the  means  are  taken,  which  were  taken  on  the  accession 
of  the  present  royal  family,  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  others,  to 
keep  up  and  direct  a  spirit  capable  of  seconding  their  petitions  and 
addresses.      I  am  not  in  general  very  fond  of  these  things  ;  but  on 
occasions  they  must  be  used,  and  I  hope  they  are  not  among  the  artes 
perditae.     They  have  the  monied  interest ;  let  us  use  the  interest  of 
those  whose  property  is  their  freedom.     Other  places  will  probably 
follow  ;  but  so  far  as  I  can  discern  no  attempt  has  yet  been  made  to 
do  more  than  merely  to  prevent  the  corporations,  or  people,  from 
appearing  against  us,   Bristol  excepted,  where  my  brother  and  his 
friends  in  the  corporation  attempted  more  but  did  not  succeed.     I 
should  recommend  that  the  same  should  be  attempted  where  it  might 
be  more  likely  to  succeed;    but    what  I    contend  for  in   all   these 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  1 7 

attempts  is,  that  we  should  not  at  all  hold  ourselves  on  the  defensive ; 
a  part  which  in  such  affairs  as  these  has  never  failed  to  bring  ruin 
on  those  who  have  chosen  to  occupy  it.  The  people,  to  be  animated, 
must  seem  to  have  some  motive  to  action  ;  and  accusation  has  more 
to  engage  their  attention  than  apology,  which  always  implies  at  least 
a  possibility  of  guilt; — it  is  something  abject  at  best.  In  order  to 
prevent  where  we  can  do  no  better,  or  to  act  where  we  can  act,  I  am 
clear  that  none  but  a  corps  of  observation  ought  to  attend  parliament. 
We  ought  to  give  over  all  thoughts  of  division  ;  and  the  members 
who  have  any  interest  ought  to  be  sent  down  to  their  several 
districts.  It  was  the  present  king  and  the  present  ministers  who 
have  made,  and  who  continue,  this  parliament  out  of  doors.  It  is 
now  fixed,  and  it  is  for  us  to  take  our  advantage  of  the  actual  state 
of  the  country,  which  is  to  the  best  of  their  power  employed  against 
us  ;  at  least  until  we  shall  be  furnished  with  the  means  of  establish- 
ing the  constitutional  bodies  of  the  kingdom  in  the  degree  of  sober 
independence,  and  decent  respect,  which  they  ought  to  enjoy. 
Whilst  these  and  other  obvious  measures  are  going  on  abroad,  the 
great  security  for  their  success,  or  the  great  remedy  for  their  failure, 
is  in  the  conduct  of  the  prince  himself.  On  that  more  depends  than 
on  all  the  rest.  All  his  actions,  and  all  his  declarations,  ought  to  be 
regular,  and  the  consequences  of  a  plan  ;  and  if  he  refuses  to  comply 
with  the  addresses,  he  ought,  once  for  all,  to  give  them  an  answer, 
which  should  be  as  much  reasoned  as  his  situation  will  admit,  and 
which  will  serve  for  a  manifesto.  All  his  written  proceedings  must 
be  so  many  manifestoes ;  for  he  will  not  be  in  government  by  being 
appointed  regent,  but  only  in  a  situation  to  contend  for  it.  Dead, 
cold,  formal  pieces,  containing  no  sentiment  to  interest  the  feelings, 
and  no  animated  argument  to  go  to  the  understanding,  may  serve 
well  enough  when  power  is  secure  and  able  to  stand  on  its  own 
foundations ;  but  in  this  precarious  show  of  government,  a  party 
must  be  made,  and  it  must  be  made  as  parties  are  formed  in  other 
cases.  There  is  not  one  rule,  principle  or  maxim  of  a  settled 
government  that  would  be  useful  to  us, — that  of  general  good  con- 
duct excepted.  That  which  I  should  chiefly  rely  upon,  in  all  these 
manifestoes,   is  a   sentiment  of  dignity  and  independence,  and  an 

B.-W.  c.  X 


1 3  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

indifference  to  the  object  unless  it  can  be  held  on  those  terms.  If 
this,  indeed,  be  not  supported  by  a  degree  of  courage,  either  natural 
or  infused,  and  a  real  resolution  rather  to  forfeit  every  thing  than 
his  own  honour,  and  the  safety  of  those  embarked  with  him  in  the 
same  bottom,  to  be  sure,  such  a  style  of  speaking  would  be  unsuitable 
and  mischievous  ;  but  if  the  conduct  and  declarations  are  of  a  piece, 
I  think  they  can  hardly  fail  of  success  in  the  end  ; — I  say  in  the 
end,  for  we  deceive  ourselves  woefully  if  we  are  not  at  the  very 
opening  of  a  dreadful  struggle.  All  these  and  every  thing  else 
however  depend  upon  that ;  which  if  nobody  has  spirit  and  integrity 
enough  to  inculcate  into  the  prince,  he  is,  and  we  are,  ruined.  He 
must  marry  into  one  of  the  sovereign  houses  of  Europe.  Till  then 
he  will  be  liable  to  every  suspicion,  and  to  daily  insult.  He  will 
not  be  considered  as  one  of  the  corps  of  princes,  nor  aggregated  to 
that  body,  which  people  here,  more  even  than  in  other  countries, 
are  made  to  look  at  with  respect.  There  must  be  a  queen  for  the 
women,  or  a  person  to  represent  one,  else  this  queen  will  have  them 
all.  I  say  this  independently  of  the  suggestion  concerning  M""s  Fitz- 
herbert,  which  I  know  to  have  great  weight,  and  much  the  greatest 
in  the  extremities  of  the  kingdom.  No  king  in  Europe,  who  is  not 
married,  or  has  not  been  so  :  no  prince  appears  settled,  unless  he 
puts  himself  into  the  situation  of  the  father  of  a  family. 

I  began  this  with  a  notion  that  I  could  bring  all  I  had  to  say 
into  a  few  short  heads  ;  but  I  have  been  drawn  into  a  length  that  I 
did  not  expect.  One  thing  or  other  has  taken  me  off;  so  that  I 
must  deliver  myself  the  letter  which  I  thought  was  to  bring  you 
hither.  Perhaps  what  I  have  thrown  down  is  of  litde  moment ;  at 
any  rate  it  is  in  safe  hands, — it  is  in  the  hands  of  one  who  will 
pardon  and  will  conceal  my  weakness.     Adieu. 

And  believe  me  ever  sincerely  and 
affectionately  yours 

Edm.    Burke. 


Windham's  diary  19 

Of  Windham's  two  speeches  on  this  business  of  the  Regency- 
Bill,  the  second,  as  we  learn  from  the  Diary  (10  Feb.),  was  made  in 
response  to  a  direct  request  from  Burke,  but  in  the  month  following 
(12  March)  their  friendship  was  endangered  by  Burke's  intemperate 
vehemence  on  a  private  matter,  a  discussion  on  the  affair  of  Baretti's 
trial.  "  I  must  endeavour,"  Windham  notes,  "to  obliterate  from  my 
mind  the  impression  which  passion  so  unreasonable  and  manners 
so  rude  would  be  apt  to  leave."  Later  in  the  same  year,  1789, 
Windham  was  again  travelling  in  France,  12  Aug.  to  9  Sept.,  but 
the  Diary  does  not  tell  us  much  to  satisfy  the  natural  curiosity 
expressed  by  Burke  in  the  first  letter  of  the  next  chapter.  The 
travellers  had  been  warned  of  some  danger,  but  do  not  seem  to  have 
actually  experienced  anything  worse  than  a  slight  difficulty  about 
passports. 


3—2 


CHAPTER     II. 

from  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution  to  the 
declaration  of  war. 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  1 5-) 

Beconsfield, 

Sepr.  27,   1789. 

My  dear  Sir, 

It  is  very  true  that  I  promised  myself  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  you  very  soon  after  your  return  from  the  Land  of  Liberty.  I 
am  sure  I  was  very  glad  of  your  safe  return  from  it :  for  though  I 
had  no  doubt  of  your  prudence,  where  no  duty  called  you  to  the 
utterance  of  dangerous  truths,  yet  I  could  not  feel  perfectly  at  my 
ease  for  the  situation  of  any  friend,  in  a  Country  where  the  people, 
along  with  their  political  servitude,  have  thrown  off  the  Yoke  of  Laws 
and  morals.  I  could  certainly  wish  to  talk  over  the  details  and 
circumstances  with  you.  But  the  main  matter  consists  in  the  results, 
and  in  the  general  impression  made  upon  you  by  what  you  have  seen 
and  heard  :  and  this  you  have  been  so  kind  to  communicate. 
That  they  should  settle  their  constitution,  with*^  much  struggle,  on 
paper,  I  can  easily  believe ;  because  at  present  the  Interests  of 
the  Crown  have  no  party,  certainly  no  armed  party,  to  support 
them  ;  But  I  have  great  doubts  whether  any  form  of  Government 
w*^'^  they  can  establish  will  procure  obedience ;  especially  obedi- 
ence in  the  article  of  Taxation.  In  the  destruction  of  the  old 
Revenue  constitution  they  find  no  difficulties— but  with  what  to 
supply  them  is  the  Opus.  You  are  undoubtedly  better  able  to  judge; 
but  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  the  National  Assembly  have  one 
Jot  more  power  than  the  King ;  whilst  they  lead  or  follow  the 
popular  voice,  in  the  subversion  of  all  orders,  distinctions,  privileges, 
impositions,  Tythes  and  rents,  they  appear  omnipotent,  but  I   very 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  21 

much   question,    whether    they  are   in  a  condition   to  exercise   any 
function  of  decided  authority — or  even  whether  they  are  possessed 
of  any  real  dehberative  capacity,  or  the  exercise  of  free  Judgment  in 
any  point  whatever  :  as  there  is  a  Mob  of  their  constituents  ready  to 
Hang  them  if  they  should  deviate  into  moderation,  or  in  the  least 
depart  from  the  spirit  of  those  they  represent.     What  has  happened 
puts  all  speculation  to  the  blush  ;  but  still   I  should  doubt,  whether 
in  the  End  France  is  susceptible  of  the  Democracy  that  is  the  Spirit, 
and  in  a  good  measure  too,  the  form,  of  the  constitution  they  have 
in  hand.      It  is,  except  the  Idea  of  the  Crown  being   Hereditary, 
much  more  truly  democratical  than  that  of  North  America.      My  son 
has  got  a  letter  from  France  which  paints  the  miserable  and  pre- 
carious situation  of  all  people  of  property  in  dreadful  colours.     Indeed 
the  particular  details  leave  no  doubt  of  it.      Pray  let  me  hear  from 
you  again,  for  I  fear  it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  go  to  you  or  to 
our  friend  Dudley  North — and  I  wish  much  to  know  whether  the 
maneuvres  of  the  Enemies  of  honour  and  common  sense  have  made 
any  way  at  Norwich  ;  for  I  had  much  rather  you  were  the  Spectator, 
than  the  victim  of  popular  madness.     Adieu  my  d'"  friend  and  believe 
me  ever  with  the  most  sincere  attachment  truly  y'"^ 

Edm.  Burke. 


If  we  cannot  tell  much  of  what  was  in  Windham's  mind  as  to  the 
early  stages  of  the  Revolution,  by  the  time  of  the  next  letter  it  was 
beginning  to  be  known  to  his  circle,  and  was  soon  to  be  known  to  all 
the  world,  what  Burke  thought  of  it. 


& 


Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add  MS.  37843,  f.  1 9-) 

Oct.  27,   1790. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I   have  seen  a  letter  of  yours  to  S'"  Joshua   Reynolds, 

which  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  I  ever  read,  except  in  one  short 

sentence,  or  rather  part  of  a  sentence.     The  pleasant  part,  you  may 

think,  was  your  desire  of  the  publication  of  my  Letter'  of  which  you 

^  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France. 


22  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

had  seen  the  beginning.  But  though  this  was  flattering  to  me  on  every 
account,  I  hope  you  will  think  I  speak  of  the  general  Tenour  of  your 
Letter,  and  not  the  little  which  touched  my  selfish  feelings.  If  you 
had  seen  the  middle  and  end  as  well  as  the  beginning  of  my  Book, 
you  would  have  given  me  such  Lights,  as  might  [make]  you  perhaps 
the  less  repent  of  your  wish  of  my  holding  up  my  hand  to  be  tried 
by  my  Country.  God  send  me  a  good  deliverance.  To  you  I  do 
not  send  it  to  be  tried,  but  to  be  protected  :  It  goes  to  an  Asylum 
and  not  to  a  Court  of  Justice  ;  for  I  should  be  sorry,  that  you  were 
as  well  qualified  to  be  my  Judge  by  your  impartiality,  as  your  are  by 
your  penetration  and  your  skill.  You  dropped  a  word  as  if  you 
thought  I  had  not  been  quite  fair  in  some  of  my  representations. 
This  gave  me  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness.  In  this  View  I  looked 
over  what  I  had  written  with  some  attention.  It  is  possible  enough, 
that  in  the  infinite  variety  of  matter  contained  in  my  general  subject 
I  may  have  made  some  mistakes,  and  I  wrote  sometimes  in  circum- 
stances not  favourable  to  accuracy.  I  wrote  from  the  Memory  of 
what  I  had  read  :  and  was  not  able  always  to  get  the  documents 
from  whence  I  had  been  supplied,  when  I  wished  to  verifye  my  facts 
with  precision.  But  I  hope  my  errors  will  be  found  to  be  rather 
mistakes  than  misrepresentations.  I  am  quite  sure  that  in  most  of 
my  statements,  I  have  rather  shot  short  of  the  mark  than  beyond  it. 
However,  where  I  have  erred,  I  wish  to  be  corrected  :  and  shall' 
certainly  if  the  Letter  (now  a  Book)  which  I  send  you  should  come 
to  a  new  Edition,  I  shall  thankfully  avail  myself  of  the  advice  I  may 
receive  from  you.  Accept  then  this  mark  of  my  sincere  respect  and 
affection,  the  last  I  sincerely  hope  of  the  kind,  with  which  I  shall 
ever  trouble  my  friends  or  the  publick.  Adieu  and  believe  all  here 
your'   very  sincerely  yours  and  that    I    am    with    the    most    perfect 

attachment, 

My  d'-  Sir, 

y''  most  faithful  and  obed*  humble  ser*^ 

Edm.  Burke. 

I  send  the  Book  to  your  house  in  Hill  Street. 

'  sic. 


WINDHAM  S    DIARY  23 

An  extract  from  the  Diary  (p.  2 1 2)  gives  Windham's  opinion  on 
the  completed  tract. 

"On  Thursday  I  conceive  it  was,  that  a  material  incident  hap- 
pened— the  arrival  of  M""  Burke's  pamphlet.  Never  was  there,  I 
suppose,  a  work  so  valuable  in  its  kind,  or  that  displayed  powers 
of  so  extraordinary  a  nature.  It  is  a  work  that  may  seem  capable 
of  overturning  the  National  Assembly,  and  turning  the  stream  of 
opinion  throughout  Europe.  One  would  think  that  the  author  of 
such  a  work  would  be  called  to  the  government  of  his  country  by 
the  combined  voice  of  every  man  in  it.  What  shall  be  said  of  the 
state  of  things  when   it  is    remembered    that  the  writer  is  a  man  / 

decried,  persecuted  and  proscribed  ;  not  being  much  valued  even 
by  his  own  party,  and  by  half  the  nation  considered  as  little  better 
than  an  ingenious  madman  !  " 

How  far-reaching  were  the  actual  effects  of  the  pamphlet  on  the 
public  opinion,  not  only  of  this  country  but  of  all  Europe,  has  been 
so  eloquently  set  forth  by  Lord  Morley,  that  it  would  be  useless  to 
dwell  upon  it  here'. 

Notwithstanding  the  admiration  above  expressed  for  Burke's 
political  principles  as  exhibited  in  the  Reflections  the  time  was  not 
yet  come  for  Windham  to  adopt  them  so  unreservedly  as  to  separate 
himself  from  Fox,  and  that  a  parting  between  Burke  and  Fox  was 
imminent  became  soon  alarmingly  evident.  The  increasing  vehe- 
mence of  Burke's  language  in  the  Letter  to  a  Member  of  the  National 
Assembly  (Jan.  1791)  and  Fox's  open  disapproval  of  both  tracts 
made  the  danger  clear  to  all,  but  they  were  still  ostensibly  in  unison 
on  29  March,  when  Windham  rose  to  answer  Pitt  on  the  armament 
aofainst  Russia  and  was  "  well  satisfied  that    Burke's  rising  at  the 

'  Among  the  tributes  of  admiration  which  it  evoked  at  home  was  an  address  from 
graduates  of  Oxford  University  conveyed  to  him  through  Windham.  The  answer  to 
this,  dated  21  Dec.  1790,  is  in  form  a  letter  to  Windham,  but  it  is  naturally  in  a 
different  tone  from  the  private  correspondence,  and  as  it  has  been  more  than  once 
printed  {Corr.  ni.  p.  180,  and  Prior's  Life,  1826,  11.  p.  108)  it  does  not  seem  necessary 
to  reproduce  it  here.  In  point  of  fact  the  value  of  the  compliment  from  the  University 
was  spoilt,  to  Burke's  mind,  by  the  failure  of  an  attempt  made  at  this  time  to  procure 
for  him  the  offer  of  an  honorary  degree.  So  much  so,  that  when,  in  1792,  the  degree 
was  eventually  offered,  Burke  refused  to  accept  it. 


24  WINDHAlVl'S    DIARY 

same  time  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  remain  silent."  Fox's  speech 
of  15  April'  in  which  he  called  the  new  French  constitution  "the  most 
stupendous  and  glorious  edifice  of  liberty  which  had  been  erected  on 
the  foundation  of  human  integrity  in  any  time  or  country,"  made  it 
purely  a  question  of  time  how  soon  an  open  rupture  would  take 
place'.  The  state  of  tension  is  shown  by  the  Diary  for  22  April 
when  Windham  "  had  a  good  deal  of  conversation  with  Sir  Gilbert 
[Elliotl  on  the  discussion  intended  to  be  introduced  by  Burke  rela- 
tive to  the  Canada  Bill  ;  on  which  subject  we  agreed  so  little  and 
Sir  Gilbert  did  in  my  opinion  show  so  much  asperity  that  we  parted, 
I  am  afraid,  not  quite  in  charity  with  each  other.  Burke  was  there, 
but  I  was  glad  to  avail  myself  of  the  conversation  in  which  I  had 
been  engaged  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  so  as  to  go  away  without 
speaking  to  him."  On  6  May  the  well-known  scene  in  the  House 
of  Commons  between  Burke  and  Fox  took  place,  and  Windham's 
entry,  "  Fatal  day  of  rupture  with  Burke,"  indicates  on  which  side 
he  felt  himself  to  be.  On  the  15th  he  found  it  necessary  to  decline 
an  invitation  from  Lord  Petre  until  he  learnt  that  Burke  would  not 
be  there.  Next  day  however  he  expresses  his  satisfaction  at 
receiving  in  the  House  "some  overtures  of  reconciliation  from 
Burke,"  but  in  the  following  letter  to  Gurney  there  is  evidence 
both  of  the  persistence  of  a  partial  estrangement  between  them  for 
the  next  twelve  months,  and  of  the  earliest  stages  of  a  fresh  under- 
standing based  upon  their  joint  resistance  to  what  they  thought 
inopportune  proposals  for  parliamentary  reform. 

1  Speeches  (181 5)  iv.  p.  195. 

'^  It  only  failed  to  follow  immediately  because  the  House  insisted  on  a  division 
taking  place  at  once.  It  is  curious  that  Windham  says  nothing  of  this  incident  in  his 
Diary  for  15  April.  He  had  spoken  earlier  in  the  debate,  and  perhaps  he  left  the 
House  before  it  was  concluded. 


windham  to  gurney  2$ 

Windham   to   John  Gurney. 

(Add.  MS.  37873,  f.  172.) 

Hill  Str., 

May  2"^,   1792. 

Dear  Sir, 

My  mind  is  so  full  of  the  measures  which  made  the 
subject  of  our  debate  on  Monday' — that  I  can  hardly  forbear  writing 
or  speaking  to  any  friend,  who[m]  I  think  likely  to  have  ideas  at  all 
similar  to  my  own  upon  the  subject;  though  my  declaration  upon  the 
occasion  was  not  exactly  what  some  of  the  people  since  have  put  in 
my  mouth  :  that  whenever  or  in  whatever  shape  a  motion  for  Parlia- 
mentary Reform  was  brought  forward,  I  would  oppose  it  (such  a 
declaration  exceeding  even  my  objections  to  Parliamentary  Reform, 
and  being  such  as  no  man  hardly  would  make).  Yet  nothing  can  be 
more  decided  than  my  hostility  to  the  measures  now  pursuing,  nor 
than  my  determination  to  oppose  them  to  the  utmost  extremity. 

You  will  not  be  surprised  at  this  declaration,  when  I  tell 
you,  as  I  did  to  the  House — though  they  have  omitted,  I  see,  in  the 
papers  that  part  of  what  I  said — that  in  my  opinion  this  is  little  short 
of  the  commencement  of  Civil  Troubles.  I  can  consider  it  as  nothing 
but  the  first  big  drops  of  that  storm,  which  having  already  deluged 
France  is  driving  fast  to  this  Country.  I  have  in  general  been  far 
from  adverse  to  the  principles  and  course  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. So  much  otherwise  indeed,  that  from  the  beginning  almost 
M^  Burke  and  I  have  never  exchanged  a  word  on  the  subject.  But 
when  an  attempt  is  made  to  bring  the  same  principles  home  to  us, 
principles  in  a  great  measure  extravagant  and  false,  and  which  at 
best  have  no  practical  application  here,  I  shall  ever  prove  myself  as 
violent  an  opposer  of  them  as  M'"  Burke  or  any  one  can  be. 

It  is  as  the  commencement  of  changes  similar  to  those  that  have 
taken  place  in  France,  that  I  view  the  measures  now  declared ; 
though  far  from  being  so  considered  or  intended  on  the  part  of  the 
authors  of  them,  or  of  the  greater  number  possibly  of  those  by  whom 
they  may  be  supported.     I  think,  however,  that  this  is  the  conclusion 

'  Charles  Grey's  notice  of  motion  for  reform,  made  in  accordance  with  a  resolution 
of  the  Association  of  Friends  of  the  People,  26  April  1792. 

B.-w.  c.  4 


26  WINDHAM    TO   GURNEY 

to  which  they  are  directly  and  rapidly  tending  ;  and  which  can  only 
be  prevented  by  a  timely  alarm  spread  among  all  people  who  may 
think  the  happiness  which  this  country  has  hitherto  enjoyed  too 
valuable  to  be  risked  on  experiments,  hitherto  unconfirmed  by  any- 
thing like  an  adequate  trial,  nor  recommended  even  by  any  theory 
(if  theory  on  such  subjects  were  worth  a  farthing)  that  has  been 
known  in  the  world  till  within  these  half-dozen  years. 

M''  Grey  and  some  other  Gentlemen,  men  very  respectable  both 
for  their  talents  and  characters  and  with  whom  I  am  most  closely 
connected,  seeing  this  danger,  and  feeling  about  it  as  I  do  myself, 
are  of  opinion,  or  rather  were  (for  I  am  not  sure  whether  already 
some  of  them  do  not  begin  to  be  alarmed),  that  the  only  way  to  avert 
this  danger  was  to  anticipate  its  arrival,  and  by  timely  concession, 
and  changes  temperately  and  judiciously  made,  to  quiet  the  minds 
of  people,  and  defeat  the  projects  of  those  who  may  wish  for  changes 
of  a  different  character.  Undoubtedly  this  is  a  Policy  very  easily 
understood,  and  that  may  in  various  cases  be  the  best  to  be 
pursued.  It  would  have  been  happy  had  this  been  followed  in  the 
case  of  America ;  it  would  have  been  wise  to  have  done  the  same 
thing  in  the  case  of  Ireland ;  it  is  to  be  wished  that  the  same  course 
were  pursued  with  respect  to  the  Catholicks  of  Ireland  at  this 
moment.  But  this  Policy,  though  often  good,  is,  like  every  other 
prudential  measure,  very  often  not  so,  and  the  question  is  whether 
it  is  so  or  not  in  the  present  instance.  I  am  setting  aside  for  the 
present  all  consideration  of  the  measures  themselves  which  they 
propose,  viz. :  the  enlarging  the  representation,  and  shortening  the 
duration  of  Parliament, — the  former  of  which  may  possibly  in  a  very 
moderate  degree  be  desirable  rather  than  not,  and  the  latter  of  which 
I  conceive  to  be  clearly  hurtful ;  I  am  considering  them  merely  with 
a  view  to  the  effect  which  they  propose  by  them,  of  defeating  the 
schemes  of  those  who  mean  nothing  short  of  a  complete  overthrow 
of  the  present  constitution.  Now  for  this  purpose  I  am  persuaded 
they  will  produce  an  effect  directly  the  reverse  of  that  which  their 
authors  intend  ;  and  this  opinion  I  ground  upon  the  consideration, 
that  their  reform,  should  they  ever  introduce  it,  would  only  be  one 
of  many  thousands  which  others  have  proposed,  who  of  consequence 


WINDHAM    TO   GURNEY  27 

will  be  as  little  satisfied  with  M""  Grey's  Reform  or  Constitution,  as 
He  or  they  may  now  be  with  the  present  one.     You  cannot  with  one 
measure  satisfy  all  schemes.     Your  measures  can  be  but  one  ;  your 
schemes  are  infinite,  many  of  them  the  most  discordant  and  opposite. 
Does  He  suppose  for  instance,  that  by  any   plan    which    He   will 
recommend  He  will  satisfy  those  who  say  that  every  Government  is 
an  usurpation  upon  the  rights  of  man,  in  which  every  Individual  has 
not  a  vote  ?     Does  He  suppose,  that  He  can  ever  form  a  House  of 
Commons,  from  which  influence,  much  of  it  undue,  will  be  excluded, 
or  on  which  such  influence,  whether  existing  or  not,  may  not  always 
be   charged  ?     When  the    principle    of  change,    such   as  that  now 
adopted,  is  once  established,  of  change  not  founded  on  a  comparison 
ot  a  specifick  grievance  with  a  specifick  remedy,  but  proceeding  on  a 
general  speculation  of   benefit    to  arise  from   this  or  that  mode  of 
constituting  a  Parliament,  what  is  there  that  is  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  till 
we  run  the  full  career  of  all  that  the  speculators  of  the  present  day 
may  wish  to  drive  us  to  ?     We  must  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact, 
that  there  is  at  this  time  a  spirit  very  generally  diffused,  as  it  has 
been  very  wickedly  excited,  of  changing  the  present  constitution  of 
things  without  any  distinct  view  of  what  is  to  be  substituted  in  its 
room.     The  promoters  of  this  spirit  call  the  means  which  they  apply 
an  appeal  to  reason.      But  to  whose  reason  do  they  appeal .''     To 
the  reason  of  those  who  they  know  can  be  no  judges  of  the  question. 
To  the  reason  of  the  very  lower  orders  of  the  Community,  whom  it 
is  easy  to  make  discontented,  as    their  situation  must  ever  render 
them  too  apt  to  be,  but  whom  no  man,  not  meaning  to  betray  them, 
would  ever  erect  into  judges  of  the  first  moral  principles  of  govern- 
ments,  or  of  the   advantages   or   disadvantages    of  great   political 
measures.      It  will  be  well  worth  the  while  of  people  not  indifferent  to 
their  own  interests,  whatever  experiments  they  may  wish  [to]  make 
with  those  of  other   people,  to    consider,   whether  this  Practice  of 
teaching  all  the  world  to  submit  to  nothing,  but  what  their  reason 
can  satisfy  them  of  the  truth  of,  may  not  proceed  in  time  to  lengths 
which  they  will  not  much  like  ;  and  whether  they  do  not  conceive, 
that  upon  this  doctrine  of  natural  rights  arguments  might  be  brought, 
such  at  least  as  an  audience  of  labouring  men  may  think  satisfactory, 

4—2 


28  WINDHAM    TO   GURNEY 

why  there  should  be  an  equality  of  property  as  well  as  an  equality  of 
voting.  Hints  of  this  sort  have  already  been  thrown  out,  I  think 
in  M""  Payne's  pamphlet^  I  am  sure  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
improve  them  in  a  way  to  make  them  circulate  among  the  lower 
people,  as  rapidly  as  arguments  about  the  Principles  of  Government 
are  said  now  to  do  among  the  workmen  at  Sheffield.  They  have 
already  abolished  in  France  all  titles  and  distinctions,  a  species  of 
property  surely  as  innocent  as  any  that  can  be  conceived,  and  which 
on  being  given  to  one  man  does  not  seem  to  take  anything  from 
another.  They  have  abolished  likewise  in  great  measure  the  right 
of  persons  to  dispose  of  their  property  by  will.  What  are  all  the 
laws  of  property  but  the  mere  creatures  of  arbitrary  appointment  ? 
and  who  shall  be  able  to  derive  any  one  of  them  by  a  regular  deduc- 
tion from  natural  rights,  so  at  least  as  not  to  admit  endless  disputes 
about  the  authenticity  of  the  pedigree  ?  Suppose  some  one  should 
take  it  into  their  head  to  write  a  work  addressed  to  the  labouring 
people,  exposing  to  them  the  iniquity  of  that  system  which  condemns 
half  the  world  to  labour  for  the  other,  and  pleading  for  such  a  parti- 
tion of  goods  as  may  give  to  every  one  a  competence,  and  leave  to 
none  a  superfluity :  I  am  certainly  not  meaning  to  say  that  such 
arguments  would  be  good  ones ;  I  am  not  meaning  to  say  that  they 
might  not  be  easily  answered,  but  I  should  be  sorry  to  undertake 
to  answer  them  in  an  auditory  such  as  composes  the  majority  of 
every  parish  in  England.  For  some  time  the  habitual  respect, 
which  the  laws  have  taught  for  property,  would  perhaps  prevail ;  but 
when  you  have  once  well  taught  men  to  consider  the  power  from 
which  such  laws  proceed,  as  all  usurpation  ;  how  much  longer  will 
the  respect  remain  for  regulations,  unfavourable  to  their  interests, 
which  that  power  has  ordained  ?  How  long  will  men  acquiesce  in 
laws,  which  condemn  them  to  poverty,  when  they  are  to  be  maintained 
on  no  other  ground  than  such  agreement  as  they  can  discern  in 
them  with  natural  rights  ?  Why  publications  of  this  sort  should  not 
be  put  forth  I  don't  see.  You  cannot  punish  them  on  any  principles, 
which  permit  the  publication  of  many  works  now  circulating  ;  and 
you  cannot  dispute  the  competency  of  the  common  people  to  judge 
'  Thomas  Paine's  The  Rights  of  Man,  published  in  1791  and  1792. 


WINDHAM    TO   GURNEY  29 

of  the  question  of  property,  when  you  allow  them  to  be  judges  of 
what  are  certainly  not  less  difficult,  the  first  principles  of  Govern- 
ment. 

But  I  will  not  tire  you  nor  myself  by  going  on  with  this  subject, 
on  which  one  might  write  volumes  without  stating  all  the  wildness 
and  danger  of  the  principles  now  abroad.  My  own  serious  opinion 
is  that  unless  men  of  all  descriptions  unite  to  say  that  they  will  not, 
on  mere  general  hopes  of  improvement,  consent  to  change  a  state  of 
things  which  has  produced,  and  is  still  producing,  a  degree  of  happi- 
ness security  and  liberty  unknown  hitherto  in  the  world,  we  shall, 
before  we  are  aware  of  it,  be  involved  in  all  the  horrors  of  civil 
confusion.  If  we  are,  it  will  be  an  example  of  human  folly  and  mad- 
ness, such  as  the  world  has  never  yet  exhibited.  That  a  nation 
great  and  happy  as  this  is,  raised  to  a  degree  of  splendour,  that  has 
made  us  the  admiration  of  the  world,  enjoying  the  most  perfect  liberty 
united  with  all  the  blessings  of  order,  possessing  at  this  moment 
peculiar  advantages  from  the  distracted  state  of  many  countries 
around  us,  and  seeing  in  no  country  any  one  advantage  that  we  do 
not  enjoy  ourselves  in  a  superior  degree, — that  such  a  nation  should 
at  once,  upon  the  mere  assurance  of  certain  persons,  that  they  can 
make  us  better,  put  all  these  blessings  to  hazard  and  risk  the  falling 
into  universal  confusion,  is  a  degree  of  extravagance,  which  can  be 
called  by  no  name  but  that  of  madness.  In  such  madness,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  I  for  one  will  not  be  a  partaker.  I  hope  that  among 
my  friends  at  Norwich  there  are  many  that  are  in  the  same  senti- 
ments. Such  sentiments  are  I  am  sure  very  much  wanted  :  and 
there  is  nowhere  that  I  should  so  much  wish  to  find  them,  as  among 
persons  with  whom  I  am  otherwise  so  much  connected. 

Believe  me  to  be.   Dear  Sir, 

your  very  faithful  humble  servant 

W.  Windham. 


30       BURKE  ON  THE  OXFORD  CHANCELLORSHIP 

In  1792  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  elected  Chancellor  of  Oxford 
University.  The  following  is  probably  part  of  a  circular  letter 
written  by  Burke  to  friends  on  the  occasion. 

Burke  to  . 


(Add.  37843,  f-  21.) 
[Headed,  "Extract  of  a  Letter  from  M''  Burke."] 

,  Beconsfield, 

Aug.  7,  1792. 

I  had  before  heard  of  the  nominating  the  Duke  of  Portland  to 
succeed  Lord  Guildford  in  the  Chancellorship  of  the  University.  I 
wish  most  heartily  that  my  interest  in  that  Learned  Body  were  equal 
to  my  Zeal  for  its  Welfare  ;  and  that  Zeal  would  direct  every  particle 
of  that  Interest  to  the  Support  of  the  Duke  of  Portland.  I  know  his 
Grace's  attachment  to  the  University,  to  the  Church  of  England  and 
to  the  cause  of  Literature,  Virtue,  and  orderly,  manly,  and  well- 
understood  Freedom,  on  the  principles  of  this  antient  tried  con- 
stitution, against  all  innovation  whatsoever  :  and  I  am  thoroughly 
persuaded  that  a  greater  Service  to  these  important  Objects,  at  this 
critical  time,  cannot  be  done  than  by  the  Election  of  the  Duke  of 
Portland  to  this  Office.  The  Man,  the  time  and  the  Object  all  speak 
for  it.  If  I  were  at  all  intitled  to  take  that  Liberty,  I  would  sollicit 
you  on  the  occasion — and  if  I  have  any  friends  whose  presence  at 
Oxford,  on  this  occasion  I  may  not  know,  I  beg  the  favour  of  you, 
most  earnestly,  and  with  my  most  humble  Respects,  to  inform  them 
of  my  opinion  and  wishes  with  regard  to  this  matter  of  no  small 
moment  I  am  persuaded  both  to  the  Church,  and  the  State.  I  have 
the  honour  to  be  with  the  greatest  Respect  and  regard 

My  dear  Sir, 
your  most  faithful  and  Obed'^  humble  Serv* 

Edm.  Burke. 


portland  to  windham  3i 

Duke  of    Portland   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845.  f-  S-) 

BULSTRODE, 

Saturday  Even.   13  Oct.  1792. 
My  dear  Windham, 

I  am  not  without  my  fears  that  this  Letter  may  increase 
the  gloom  into  which  the  D.  of  Brunswick's  Return'  has  very 
naturally  thrown  you,  because  you  will  find  no  contradiction  or  any 
explanation  of  the  Event  but  what  you  have  already  seen  in  the 
Papers,  which  in  my  apprehension  very  sufficiently  accounts  for  it, 
because  since  it  took  place  I  have  not  received  a  single  line  of  intel- 
ligence from  any  person  whatever.  I  met  a  person  belonging  to  the 
Sec'^  of  State's  Office  the  beginning  of  this  week,  who  assured  me 
that  every-body  now  knew  as  much  of  France  as  Ministers  did,  and 
probably  more,  for  that  Thelusson'  received  the  earliest  and  best 
information  from  thence,  and  he  believed  that  what  came  to  the 
Sec''^  of  State's  Office  was  the  last  and  the  worst.  All  I  have  to 
send  you  therefore  are  my  hopes,  and  they  are  confident  and  not 
wholly  unfounded,  that  there  is  too  large  a  portion  of  good  sense, 
or  self-interest,  or  indolence,  or  indecision,  or  dislike  of  novelty,  or 
attachment  to  old  Habits,  or  in  short  something,  that  if  it  is  not 
good  sense  will  be  a  substitute  for  it,  which  will  prevent  our  being 
overrun  by  French  Principles ;  and  as  for  French  Arms  my  dread 
of  them  will  not  disturb  me  much,  for  I  do  not  believe  that  anything 
could  so  effectually  animate  and  unite  us  as  an  armed  attempt  from 
France  to  force  us  to  accept  Anarchy.  You  see  that  I  am  of  opinion 
that  we  have  both  vigor  and  wisdom    sufficient  to  resist  such  an 

'  The  retreat  of  the  allies  after  Valmy,  due  to  the  strateg)-  of  Dumouriez  and 
Kellermann. 

^  Peter  Thellusson,  father  of  the  first  Lord  Rendlesham.  Of  French  Protestant 
origin,  he  came  to  London  from  Geneva  and  acquired  there  a  very  considerable  fortune 
in  trade.  His  eccentric  will,  by  which  the  money  was  tied  up  to  accumulate  for  his 
remote  descendants,  was  regarded  as  a  national  danger.  It  was  supposed  that  before 
it  became  available  for  spending  it  might  amount  to  140  millions  of  pounds,  and 
legislation  was  carried  through  to  prevent  such  arrangements  in  future.  In  the  event 
however  it  dwindled  to  a  moderate  sum. 


32  PORTLAND    TO   WINDHAM 

attempt  and  that  opinion  is  founded  on  the  very  general  diffusion 
and  distribution  of  property,  the  perfect  security  in  which  it  is  en- 
joyed, the  great  opulence  and  prosperity  of  the  Country,  and  the 
superabundance  of  employment  and  wages  for  the  Manufacturers  of 
all  descriptions,  who  are  the  most  and  indeed  the  only  turbulent  part 
of  our  community.  The  Army,  small  as  it  is,  I  believe  to  be  perfectly 
safe  and  to  be  depended  upon,  and  quite  sufficient  to  support  the 
Civil  Power,  which  with  the  countenance  it  will  derive  from  the 
military  is  very  able,  with  the  assistance  of  the  well  disposed  part  of 
the  Community,  to  preserve  good  order  and  defeat  any  hostile  designs 
or  undertakings  against  the  present  Constitution  of  our  Government. 
I  am  sure  there  are  Men  in  this  country  (and  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  one  in  France),  for  though  it  has  been  the  system  of  the 
present  Reign  to  annihilate  them,  in  that  it  has  not  succeeded,  and 
they  still  exist — and  I  trust  and  believe  those  will  be  found  enough 
to  save  the  Country,  even  from  being  attempted.  I  do  not  know 
whether  you  will  concur  with  me  on  this  point,  and  perhaps  it  is  as  well 
you  should  not,  for  too  much  and  too  general  Confidence  might  ruin 
us.  Do  you  therefore  continue  to  despond  and  to  exert  yourself, 
and  I  will  be  sanguine  and  not  idle. 

Yours  ever 

Portland. 


CHAPTER   III. 

FROM   THE    BEGINNING   OF   THE   WAR   TO    WINDHAM'S 
ACCEPTANCE   OF  OFFICE. 

A  USEFUL  summary  of  the  political  situation  at  the  end  of  1792 
and  the  beginning  of  1 793  is  afforded  by  the  following  letter  from 
Windham  to  his  old  friend  John  Coxe  Hippisley.  Hippisley,  of 
whom  we  shall  soon  hear  more,  had  left  England  in  the  late  autumn 
for  Italy,  where  he  had  access  to  influential  quarters  through  his 
brother-in-law,  a  Roman  nobleman.  In  the  meantime  the  Convention 
had,  on  i  Feb.,  declared  war  against  the  rulers  of  England  and 
Holland,  and  the  British  declaration  had  followed  ten  days  later. 
The  defeat  and  defection  of  Dumouriez  were  only  incidents  in  a 
series  of  disasters  to  the  French  in  the  first  few  months  of  the  war. 

Windham  to  J.   Coxe   Hippisley. 

(Add.  MS.  37848,  f.  55-) 

London, 
March  28"",   1793- 

My  dear  Hippisley, 

I  have  already  much  to  answer  for  in  having  delayed  so 
long  to  write  at  a  time  when  you  must  be  so  impatient  for  letters, 
and  when  you  have  given  yourself  such  a  claim  to  them  from  me  by 
the  numerous  ones  which  I  have  received.  It  is  the  sense  of  my 
obligations  in  that  respect,  and  the  ideas  conceived  of  what  I  ought 
to  do  in  return,  that  has  till  now  repressed  my  endeavours,  and 
threatens  without  care  to  throw  me  into  as  bad  a  state  as  during  the 
time  of  your  absence  in  India.  Experience  of  that  danger  makes 
me  resolve  to  break  my  chains  by  times ;  I  have  accordingly  seized 
my  pen  this  morning,  determined  to  write  a  page  before  I  pull  off 
my  night  cap  ;  and  not  to  go  out  of  the  House,  till  I  have  got  upon 

B.-W.  c.  5 


34  WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY 

paper  such  a  quantity  as  I  may  venture  to  send  off  by  next  post, 
should  I  be  unable  even  to  make  any  additions  to  it. 

Where  shall  I  begin  ?  and  what  order  shall  I  follow  ?  What 
shall  I  consider  as  most  important  ?  and  where  shall  I  consider 
you  as  most  uninformed,  and  most  desirous  therefore  of  information 
from  me  ?  The  points  probably  most  necessary  will  be  those  that 
you  can  least  learn  from  publick  accounts ;  and  such  will  be  the 
general  history  of  our  domestick  and  party  politicks,  particularly  as 
affecting  that  class  of  men  about  whom  you  are  most  interested. 

You    know    what    the    state    of    my    mind    was    respecting    the 

situation  of  Europe,  and  the  progress  to  be  apprehended  of  those 

changes,   which  were  gaining  daily  new  strength,  and  which  were 

never  likely  to  stop  of  themselves,  till  they  effected  the  dissolution 

of  all  the  subsisting  governments.     The  reasons  for  these  fears  went 

on  increasing,  in  respect  both  of  the  progress  of  the  French  arms, 

and  of  the  correspondent  opinions  in  this  country,  till  some  time,  as 

I  recollect,  after  your  departure.     They  seemed  then  to  be  brought 

to  a  sort  of  crisis,  at  which  some  immediate  explosion  was  to   be 

apprehended.      I  am  not  sure  whether  this  was  before  or  just  after 

your  departure,  but  it  was   towards  the  end  of  November.     You 

must  consider  this  as  a  sort  of  fixed  point,  with  reference  to  which 

the  history  of  these  times  is  to  be  graduated.     The  despondency  of 

those  who  have  been  distinguished  since  as  the  sect  of  alarmists 

was  then   at  its  lowest  ebb. — Among  those   who  happened  to  be 

at  that  time  in  London  I  was  among   the  most  eager  for   calling 

together  whatever  force  of  counsel  could  be  collected,  in  order  to 

consider  what  should  be  done.     The  general  opinion  was  that  an 

intimation  should  be  given  to  Ministry,   serving  in  one  view  as  a 

menace,  and  in  another  as  an  encouragement,  that  those  by  whom 

they  had  been  supported,  at  the  time  of  the  Proclamation,  would  not 

fail  them  in  any  measures  which  they  might  think  it  necessary  to 

take  in  the  present  circumstances  ;  and  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the 

persons  comprehended  under  that  description,  measures  vigorous  and 

decisive,  both  internal  and  external,  ought  to  be  taken.     This  was 

accordingly  done ;  and  though  the  intimation  so  conveyed  was  not 

so  explicit  nor  so  strong  as  I  could  have  wished,  it  is  not  impos- 


WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY  35 

sible,  that  on  that  little  circumstance  much  of  the  subsequent  conduct 
of  Government :  much,  in  consequence,  of  that  of  the  dispositions 
and  plans  of  Foreign  powers  ;  and  much  therefore,  in  the  end,  of 
the  fate  of  Europe,  may  have  turned.  I  have  always  been  a  great 
tracer  of  the  effect  of  little  things ;  and  the  opinion,  that  this  step, 
seemingly  so  inconsiderable,  may  have  led  to  consequences  thus 
important,  is  a  reflexion  of  great  comfort  and  satisfaction  to  me  who 
had  some  share  in  it,  and  who  rejoice  so  much  in  those  consequences. 
The  sentiments  of  Fox  in  the  mean  while  remained  in  a  great 
measure  unknown.  He  had  been  absent  from  Town  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  summer,  and  little  more  was  known  of  his 
Opinion,  than  what  I  had  collected  in  a  short  conversation  in  my 
way  from  Norfolk  to  London,  previous  to  the  retreat  of  the  com- 
bined Army,  and  to  those  events  which  made  so  large  a  part  of  the 
present  crisis.  My  own  expectations  were  not  very  sanguine  ;  and 
the  result  of  three  or  four  conversations,  to  which  He  seemed  to  be 
dragged  rather  unwillingly,  gave  me  an  early  impression,  that  our 
difference  was  not  of  a  temporary  or  superficial  sort,  but  was  such  as 
was  likely  to  lead  us,  without  some  unexpected  turn  of  things,  wider 
and  wider  from  each  other.  It  was  not  a  difference  capable  of  being 
reduced  to  specifick  points,  and  of  being  confined  therefore  within 
precise  limits,  but  a  general  difference  of  feeling  that  pervaded  all  our 
sentiments  on  the  present  state  of  the  world.  This  opinion,  admitted 
as  you  may  suppose  with  great  reluctance,  and  at  first  with  consider- 
able hesitation,  has  alass !  been  growing  stronger  and  stronger,  as 
the  scene  has  opened  ;  till  now  that  we  have  passed  the  question  of 
war,  without  being  able  to  find  in  that  an  occasion  of  union,  there 
is  nothing  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  that  affords  a  prospect  of  our 
coming  together. — The  situation  in  which  we  stand,  and  the  persons 
comprized  in  one  or  other  description,  you  know  probably,  partly 
from  the  accounts  of  the  debates,  and  partly  from  private  letters. — It 
may  be  more  necessary  to  say  something  of  the  situation  and  senti- 
ments of  the  D.  of  P. — For  his  sentiments,  they  have  been  on  all 
occasions,  except  on  the  bill  now  depending  to  prevent  treasonable 
Correspondence  &c.,  the  same  as  Sir  Gilbert's  and  mine  ;  who  have 
never  differed  yet  in  any  instance. — His  opinions  and  feelings  on  the 

5—2 


36  WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY 

Affairs  of  France,  his  ideas  of  the  State  of  this  Country,  his  wishes 
for  war,  and  his  intentions  of  supporting  Ministry,  till  he  was  talked 
out  of  them  by  other  counsellors,  were  all  the  same  as  ours.  But  his 
situation  is  such  as  no  nicety  of  conduct  can  make  consistent  with  itself, 
and  as  has  been  the  parent  of  all  his  difficulties  and  all  his  perplexities, 
and  of  such  loss  of  personal  consequence  as  it  will  be  difficult 
Ever  to  repair.  He  has  conceived  that  his  present  difference  with 
Fox  could  be  treated  as  a  difference  on  a  particular  point ;  and  be 
reconciled  with  a  continuance  of  party  connection.  The  consequence 
of  which  is,  that  He  is  acting  in  party  with  a  man  with  whom  He 
never  agrees,  and  is  joining  with  him  to  overturn  the  power  of  those 
by  whom  his  own  system  is  supported.  One  of  the  effects  of  this 
situation,  illustrating  the  original  falseness  of  the  conception,  is  that 
He  can  take  no  step  to  aid  and  cooperate  with  those  with  whom  he 
concurs  in  opinion.  To  obviate  so  strange  a  consequence  was  the 
object  of  that  conference,  which  produced  the  declaration  from  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot',  about  which  you  have  heard  probably  a  good  deal, 
and  which  has  drawn  upon  him  a  great  deal  of  enmity  from  that  side. 
— It  was  proposed  to  the  D.  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  those 
whose  sentiments  he  agreed  with ;  and  to  allow  them  still  to  consider 
themselves  as  acting  under  their  original  Chief.  To  this  it  was 
thought  at  first  that  we  had  an  explicit  consent ;  but  all  was  afterwards 
embroiled,  and  confused,  till  in  point  of  fact  we  all  find  ourselves 
now  acting  without  a  leader,  and  with  no  other  concert  than  that 
which  we  have  been  able  to  make  out  among  ourselves. 

The  only  meetings  therefore  of  the  party,  that  have  taken  place 
on  our  side,  have  been  at  my  house".     Much  against  my  will  I  have 

'  On  the  second  reading  of  the  Alien  Bill,  28  Dec.  1792.  Fox  and  his  associates 
complained,  not  unfairly,  that  the  Duke's  approbation  of  the  bill  should  have  been 
made  known  to  them  for  the  first  time  not  by  his  own  mouth  but  by  a  speech  of  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot  in  the  Hoiise  of  Commons,  see  Lord  John  Russell's  Life  of  Fox,  11. 
pp.  317 — 318.  The  authorisation  for  Elliot's  declaration  was  obtained  on  24  Dec.  by 
a  deputation  from  a  meeting  held  at  Lord  Malmesbury's  the  previous  day,  see  Life  and 
Letters  of  Lord  Minto,  n.  p.  92. 

"I.e.  after  28  Dec.  1792.  The  dates  of  the  meetings  Windham  in  his  Diary 
characteristically  records  that  he  did  not  remember,  but  one  seems  to  have  been  on 
9  Feb.  Sir  Gilbert  EUiot,  whose  opinion  of  the  Duke  of  Pordand's  unsteadiness  at 
this  time  was  expressed  with  even  greater  vigour,  writing  to  his  wife  on  20  Dec.  1792, 


WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY  37 

been  obliged  to  act  as  a  sort  of  head  of  a  party,  much  in  the  same 
way,  as  some  Colonel  or  Serjeant  may  now  be  doing  with  the  remains 
of  Dumouriez's  army.  This  however  can  last  only  for  a  short  time  : 
it  may  serve  to  keep  us  together  for  a  while  ;  but  if  the  D.  cannot 
be  prevailed  upon  to  return  to  his  station,  of  which  I  see  at  present 
no  prospect,  and  hardly  indeed  the  opportunity,  we  must  dwindle 
away  and  be  dispersed  in  various  channels  till  the  very  name  and 
idea  of  the  party  will  be  lost.  The  credit  and  consequence  that  has 
been  lost  by  this  conduct,  first  of  F.  and  then  of  the  D.  is  dreadful 
to  think  of.  Had  F.  determined  to  have  taken  part  with  us,  at  the 
close  of  last  year  ;  had  he  disclaimed  the  Fr[iends]  of  the  People,  and 
sided  with  those  who  had  certainly  the  best  claim  to  be  considered 
as  his  friends,  there  is  hardly  a  doubt,  that  He  might  at  this  time, 
have  been  minister.  Had  he  even  taken  part  with  us  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  sessions  there  is  little  doubt,  though  more  than  before, 
that  his  authority  in  the  country  might  have  been  equally  or  nearly 
as  great.  As  it  is,  He  has  put  himself  in  a  situation  in  which  as  far 
as  can  be  foreseen  nothing  less  than  a  Revolution  can  ever  make  him 
Minister.  The  D.  of  P.  upon  a  smaller  scale  has  judged  equally 
wrong,  and  with  consequences  equally  injurious.  By  this  attempt  of 
continuing  to  act  with  F.,  while  they  differed  on  questions  such  as  those 
now  depending.  He  has  disappointed  the  expectations  of  his  friends 
and  of  the  publick,  and  lost  much  of  that  reputation  for  firmness  and 
decision,  which  is  so  necessary  to  the  head  of  a  party,  and  may  be 
so  wanted  hereafter  for  the  purpose  of  recovering  F.  The  opinion 
that  the  D.  had  a  will  and  a  judgement  of  his  own,  and  could  firmly 
act  up  to  that  judgement,  would  be  the  best  cure  for  that  distrust, 
which  otherwise  may  for  ever  exclude  F.  from  Office.  The  situation 
of  the  D.  was,  I  confess,  difficult.  To  have  taken  the  course  which 
I  recommended  would  undoubtedly  have  changed  what  was  one  party 
into  two,  with  each  its  head  and  members  and  separate  functions ; 
acting  without  enmity  to  each  other,  but  moving  in  different  direc- 
tions, and  forming  each  its  own  system.     But  the  course  which  is 

says  that  "  Windham  stands  higher  at  present,  both  in  the  House  and  in  the  country 
than  any  man  I  remember."  After  this  it  seems  an  anti-climax  to  add,  as  he  does, 
that  "  I  think  he  might  have  a  cabinet  office  if  he  liked." 


38  WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY 

now  taken  leaves  no  party  at  all.  The  only  body  that  lives  and 
acts  is  an  heterogeneous  mass,  formed  hardly  in  any  degree  of  the 
materials  of  the  D.  of  P.'s  friends,  (though  it  has  derived  from  them 
its  life  and  energy)  and  pursuing  habits  and  instincts  altogether  its 
own.  It  is  a  little  gilded  and  venemous  insect,  with  great  force  of 
wing,  which  has  sprung  from  the  carcase  of  the  old  party,  which  it 
leaves  to  moulder  and  grow  putrid  in  the  Eyes  of  the  publick.  If  I 
were  a  man  of  Ambition  and  activity,  and  talents  for  such  a  situation, 
now  is  the  time  when  I  might  become  a  great  leader,  all  the  world 
being  ready  to  hail  the  course  I  have  taken,  and  which  I  laboured 
with  most  earnest  endeavours  to  make  the  course  also  of  the  D.  of 
P.  I  have  no  such  dispositions,  did  I  possess  even  the  powers,  so 
that  the  party  seems  to  be  melting  away,  with  no  one  growing  up  to 
replace  it,  but  such  as  must  derive  all  its  strength  and  sentiment 
from  the  misfortunes  and  mischiefs  of  the  country. 

This  is  the  best  picture  which  I  can  give  you  of  the  state  of 
Internal  Politicks  as  confined  to  publick  men.  The  evils  of  this  I 
feel  less  acutely,  from  the  consideration  of  the  {promising  appearance 
which  things  seem  to  assume  upon  the  Continent,  where  the  progress 
of  the  mischief  is  at  least  stopt,  with  as  good  hopes  of  further  reduc- 
tion of  it,  as  can  be  entertained  in  a  business  of  such  extent  and 
complexity. — The  representation  which  you  made  of  the  state  of 
opinions  in  the  Southern  parts  of  France,  combined  with  other 
accounts,  confirming  the  same  ideas,  makes  a  very  considerable  part 
of  the  hopes  which  I  allow  myself  to  indulge.  You  will  have  heard 
all  the  accounts  which  we  have  as  yet  got  of  the  complete  success  of 
the  Austrian  arms  in  Brabant,  such  as  give  full  assurance  for  the 
security  of  Holland,  and  leave  little  or  no  doubt  of  the  entire 
evacuation  of  Flanders.  We  know  as  yet  for  certain  (March  27*) 
only  of  the  victory  of  the  i8*''\  There  are  accounts  seemingly 
pretty  authentick  of  a  continuation  of  the  same  successes,  amounting 
to  nearly  an  entire  dispersion  of  the  whole  of  the  French  Army. 

What  we  want  now  is  a  naval  force  in  the  Mediterranean  such 
as  might  give  heart  and  protection  to  the  sentiment  which  you 
describe  as  existing  in  that  part  of  France.     Similar  aid  is  wanting 

'  Defeat  of  Dumouriez  at  Neerwinden,  followed  by  the  evacuation  of  Belgium. 


WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEV  39 

towards  Brittany,  where  as  you  will  see  by  the  French  papers  a  very 
general  dissatisfaction  prevails.  In  both  these  cases  indeed  there 
must  be  a  land  force  to  cooperate  with  that  by  sea  ;  and  such  I 
conclude  in  the  course  of  the  summer  must  be  found.  At  all  events 
an  English  fleet  should  be,  or  rather  should  have  been,  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, to  give  that  succour  and  protection,  which  I  conceive  all 
the  countries  upon  those  shores  are  looking  for  at  our  hands,  and 
which  it  would  be  a  proud  distinction  in  us  to  grant.  I  long  to 
think  that  Rome,  our  common  mother,  should  owe  her  safety,  if 
danger  must  approach  her,  to  the  protecting  justice  of  Great  Britain. 

Amidst  so  much  said  of  our  political  differences  it  may  be 
necessary  to  state  in  what  degree  they  affect  private  and  individual 
intercourse.  You  may  imagine  that  those  who  lived  together  chiefly 
as  Politicians  do  not  continue  much  to  do  so  when  their  Politicks 
disagree.  The  secession  likewise  from  the  Whig  Club,  of  which  you 
may  have  seen  an  account  in  the  papers,  has  been  a  subject  of 
greater  complaint  than  any  difference  in  voting  or  speaking.  But 
none  of  these  have  led  in  my  case  to  any  change  of  manner  in 
private,  nor  in  my  own  mind  to  any  change  of  private  regard.  I 
retain  all  my  former  opinions  and  kindness  for  F.,  though  I  see  with 
regret,  that  his  sentiments  and  wishes,  on  the  changes  now  going  on 
in  the  world,  are  more  remote  from  mine  than  I  had  formerly  sup- 
posed. The  list  of  the  persons  who  side  with  him  on  these  points, 
you  know  pretty  well  by  the  list  of  the  Division.  Those  who  do 
not  appear  there  may  be  presumed  in  general  to  be  on  the  other 
side.  Of  persons  not  in  Parliam*^,  and  whose  opinions  you  would 
feel  interested  about,  I  am  happy  to  tell  you  that  Fullarton'  approves 
entirely  of  what  I  have  done;  as  He  informed  me  some  time  since 
in  a  letter,  for  which  I  must  take  care  that  He  does  not  hear  of  my 
acknowledgements  from  you,  before  He  gets  them  from  myself  In 
the  same  letter,  which  He  wrote  from  Scotland,  He  inquires  whether 
I  have  heard  [from]"  you. 

It  is  no  small  satisfaction  to  me  likewise  to  find  that   Pelham 

'  Col.  William   Fullarton,  whose  distinguished  service  in   India   is   not   so  well 
remembered  as  his  later  quarrel  with  Major-General  Picton  in  Trinidad. 
"  Paper  torn. 


40  WINDHAM    TO    HIPPISLEY 

thinks  upon  the  whole  in  the  same  way.  If  you  see  him,  you  will 
perhaps  tell  him  what  I  say  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  on  the  other 
matters  in  this  letter.      I  intend  indeed  to  write  to  him. 

Matters  of  private  news,  not  connected  with  publick,  I  don't 
undertake  for ;  and  there  is  but  little  encouragement,  when  the 
Principal  that  I  know  is  of  a  sort  so  dreadfully  melancholy,  as  the 
death  of  Lady  Herbert\  which  happened  the  other  day,  about  three 
weeks  after  her  lying  in,  and  when,  though  she  had  been  in  danger, 
hopes  were,  I  believe,  entertained  of  her  recovery.  An  article 
of  a  different  sort,  though  not  a  compensation  for  the  other,  is 
the  marriage  that  is  to  take  place  soon,  between  Lady  Charlotte 
Bentinck,  and  Charles  Greville".  It  is  a  love  match  conceived  long 
since,  and  in  which  all  parties  seem  to  have  acted  so  well  as  to  make 
it  rather  a  matter  of  regret,  so  far  as  her  fortune  must  be  sacrificed 
to  her  happiness,  than  of  blame  in  any  quarter.  If  any  one  is  to  be 
blamed,  it  seems  to  be  the  Duchess,  who  placed  in  the  way  of  a 
young  woman  so  retired  as  Lady  Charlotte  a  man  having  qualities 
so  likely  to  recommend  him  to  her  regard  as  Charles  Greville.  The 
very  name  might  be  sufficient  to  turn  the  heads  of  half  a  boarding 
school. 

Today  I  go  to  the  House  to  debate  this  Treason  bill.  To- 
morrow I  mean  to  set  out  for  the  recess  to  Norfolk.  I  could  not 
have  gone  in  peace,  if  I  had  not  thanked  you  for  your  letters,  includ- 
ing that  which  contained  the  Pope's  representation.  And  begging 
all  kind  remembrances  and  wishes  to  M''^  H.  and  your  party, 

Farewell,  let  me  hear  often, 

W.  W.' 


'  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Topham  Beaucleik,  married  in  1787  George  Augustus, 
Lord  Herbert,  afterwards   nth  Earl  of  Pembroke. 

"  The  first  child  of  the  marriage  was  Charles  Cavendish  Fulke  Greville,  the 
diarist.  Elliot  thought  the  elder  Charles  Greville  "  a  very  disagreeable  coxcomb,  with 
very  little  merit  to  recommend  him  excepting  his  face." 

^  (Endorsed): — "Having  shewed  this  letter  to  L''  Minto,  he  spoke  of  it  to 
M"^  Windham,  who  desired  to  read  it  and  assented  to  Lord  Minto's  request  to  have  a 
copy  of  it.  It  remained  in  M'  Windham's  possession  till  his  death,  and  I  have 
since  received  it  from  M^^  Windham.     J.  C.  Hippisley.     Jan.  20,  1812." 


PITT   TO   WINDHAM  4 1 

From  the  foregoing  letter,  taken  in  conjunction  with  those  in 
Elliot's  Life  and  the  letters  of  Portland  and  Spencer  which  will  be 
given  under  the  latter  part  of  this  year  and  beginning  of  the  next, 
the  relations  of  the  Windhamites  among  themselves  will  appear  fairly 
clear.  What  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  make  out  is  Windham's  relation 
to  the  ministry.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  March  1793  Burke, 
Windham  and  Elliot  desired  a  conference  with  Pitt  on  the  subject  of 
the  war,  and  had  a  long  interview  with  Pitt  and  Dundas  which 
was  "  more  like  a  cabinet "  than  any  council  which  Elliot  had  ever 
attended  \  Actual  overtures  for  incorporation  in  the  ministry,  as  we 
gather  from  the  Diary,  began  in  the  middle  of  June,  but  their  precise 
nature  is  not  set  forth  at  large.  The  fourteenth  of  June  is  noted  in 
the  Diary  as  "  the  day  of  my  receiving  the  first  note  from  Pitt,  just 
as  I  was  setting  out  to  Wycombe.  It  was  the  next  day,  Saturday, 
that  I  must  have  gone  there."  The  invitation  to  this  meeting  was 
as  follows. 

Pitt   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  7-) 

Downing  St., 
Friday,  June  14"',   1793. 

M'"  Pitt  presents  his  compliments  to  M'"  Windham,  and  wishes 
much,  if  M"^  Windham  will  give  him  leave,  to  have  some  conversation 
with  him  before  Monday  on  the  subject  of  the  Motion  of  which 
M""  Fox  has  given  Notice  for  that  day.  It  would  also  be  a  great 
satisfaction  to  M'"  Pitt  to  have  an  Opportunity,  if  it  is  not  disagreeable 
to  M''  Windham,  of  stating  confidentially  to  him  some  circumstances 
arising  out  of  the  present  state  of  Politics,  and  which  M''  Pitt  rather 
wishes  to  communicate  Personally  to  himself  than  thro'  any  other 
Channel.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  if  M'"  Windham  has  the 
Goodness  to  comply  with  M''  Pitt's  wishes  in  this  respect,  any  thing 
which  may  pass  will  not  transpire  any  where,  without  M''  Windham's 

'  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Minto,  11.  p.  121.  Burke  and  Elliot  also  conferred  with 
ministers  on  the  Traitorous  Correspondence  Bill  on  25  March,  but  Windham,  though 
expected,  did  not  come.  On  3  May  was  founded  a  political  dining-cluh  including 
Lord  Malmesbury,  Lord  Beauchamp,  Lord  Porchester,  Burke,  Windham  and  Elliot. 

B.-w.  c.  6 


4?  PITT   TO    WINDHAM 

particular  Permission.  M""  Pitt  will  be  at  Leisure  any  hour  either 
tomorrow  or  Sunday,  at  which  M'"  Windham  would  find  it  convenient 
to  call  in  Downing  Street. 


On  the  17th  Windham  "saw  Pitt;  finished  Mudge' ;  and  made 
speech  (a  singularly  bad  one)  on  Fox's  motion^  Went  home  and 
supped  with  Burke."  On  18  June  "Lord  Spencer,  I  think,  called 
in  the  morning  and  declared  against  acceptance.  Certainly  felt  it  as 
a  great  load  off  my  mind.  My  feel,  both  before  and  after,  a  suffi- 
cient proof  of  the  state  of  my  mind  with  respect  to  a  real  liking  of 
the  object.  Lord  Spencer  went  out  of  town  in  the  evening."  On 
19  June  "Interview  with  Pitt*  to  give  my  answer:  not  wholly 
satisfied  with  my  own  statements,  they  were  at  least  much  inferior 
to  his."  From  Elliot  we  learn  that  the  overtures  included  the  offer 
to  Windham  of  an  eventual  Secretaryship  of  State,  although  "there 
were  great  difficulties  in  changing  in  the  present  circumstances,  in 
the  midst  of  a  war  the  correspondence  of  which  was  conducted 
through  that  office,"  and  to  Spencer  of  the  Lord  Lieutenancy  of 
Ireland.  That  the  impression  gathered  by  Pitt  and  Dundas,  and 
regarded  by  them  as  "perfectly  satisfactory"  was  that  Windham's 
"  mind  was  made  up  to  think  it  must  come  to  his  accepting  office, 
but  that  it  might  be  better  some  time  hence,"  and  that  Lord 
Spencer's  refusal  of  Ireland,  "on  private  grounds  of  family  conveni- 
ence," was  also  no  bar  to  a  future  arrangement.  To  Elliot  himself 
was  held  out  first  the  government  of  Madras,  which  he  refused  ; 
then,  but  less  definitely,  the  office,  eventually  given  to  Windham,  of 
Secretary  at  War,  with  a  seat  in  the  cabinet,  and  lastly  the  Irish 
Secretaryship.  His  adverse  views  of  the  last-named  office  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  notice. 

In  the  interval  between  these  negotiations  and  the  date  of  the 
following  letter,  Windham  carried  out,  in  the  company  of  Col.  Fullar- 

^  Report  on  the  claim  of  Thomas  Mudge  to  rewards  for  improvements  in  chrono- 
meters.    Possibly  Pitt's  conversation  related  in  part  to  this  topic. 

For  an  address  in  favour  of  peace  with  France.    Windham  and  Burke  both  spoke. 

^  Th,e  note  making  this  appointment  is  in  Add.  MS.  37844,  but  is  not  worth  repro- 
duction. 


SIR    G.    ELLIOT    TO   WINDHAM  43 

ton,  a  project  originally  conceived  by  Elliot  and  himself  earlier  in 
the  year,  of  a  visit  to  the  army  in  F"landers.  He  left  England  on 
the  tenth  of  July,  was  present  under  a  fairly  hot  fire  at  some  work 
in  the  trenches  and  saw  the  surrender  of  Valenciennes,  but  charac- 
teristically tormented  himself  afterwards  with  regrets  because  he  had, 
very  wisely,  refrained  from  exposing  himself  to  useless  danger  in 
accompanying  an  attack  on  a  covered  way.  He  returned  to  England 
on  6  August. 

Whether  Pitt  had  any  hand  in  advising  this  journey  does  not 
appear,  but  it  seems  not  impossible  that  the  result  of  it,  upon  Wind- 
ham's peculiar  type  of  mind,  was  to  stimulate  his  inclination  towards 
active  participation  in  the  measures  taken  by  Government  against 
the  French,  and  the  part  which  he  played  as  war, official  intermediary 
between  the  Government  and  the  Emigres  served  to  strengthen  this 
inclination.  A  stronger  stimulus  however  was  probably  supplied  by 
the  example  and  precept  of  Sir  Gilbert,  who  accepted,  early  in 
August,  a  commission  from  the  ministry  to  go  to  Dunkirk,  in  the 
event  of  its  surrender,  to  provide  for  the  administration  of  the 
occupied  territory.  When  the  raising  of  the  siege  at  the  beginning 
of  September  caused  this  scheme  to  fall  through,  Elliot's  destination, 
as  we  shall  see,  was  at  once  changed  to  Toulon. 

Sir   Gilbert   Elliot   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37852,  f.  212.) 

MiNTO, 

4"*  Au^.   1793. 

My  dear  Windham, 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  am  obliged  to  you  for 
your  letter,  nor  how  much  pleasure  it  has  given  me.  I  am  extremely 
glad  that  you  was  present  at  the  catastrophe  and  that  your  specimen 
of  military  life  has  thus  been  complete  in  all  its  parts.  I  enjoy  as 
highly  as  it  is  possible  to  enjoy,  per  alium,  all  the  pleasure  and  all 
the  sorts  of  pleasure,  which  this  expedition  has  given  you.  I  need 
not  tell  you  that  I  should  have  liked  to  be  there,  nor  that  my  relish 
of  the  thing  would  have  been  amazingly  heighten'd  by  a  participation 
in  it  with  you.     But  there  is  nothing  like  envy  in  my  regret  for  this 

6—2 


44  SIR   G.    ELLIOT   TO    WINDHAM 

loss  ;  for  on  the  contrary  the  enjoyment  you  have  had  in  it  is  not 
only  agreeable  to  me  in  itself,  but  is  a  sort  of  compensation  to  me 
for  my  own  absence.     Your  way  of  seeing  and  enjoying  such  things, 
I  am  willing  to  flatter  myself,  is  so  much  akin,  to  my  own,  that  I  feel 
as  if  it  was  gone  in  the  family,  though  it  did  not  fall  to  my  own 
share.     I  am  exceedingly  gratified  indeed  by  your  understanding  so 
justly  the  sort  and  degree  of  interest  I  take  in  all  that  concerns  you, 
not  only  in  your  welfare,  in  your  fame,  in  your  interests,  but  even  in 
your  own  feelings  about  yourself      I  am  so  highly  delighted  in  the 
unlimited  confidence  you  are  willing  to  place  in  me,  of  which  you 
could  offer  no  proof  more  perfect  than  your  readiness  to  have  told 
me  faithfully  your  feelings  in  the  trenches,  even  if  they  had  been 
different  from  what  they  proved.     If  they  had  been  of  the  other  sort 
and  you  had  told  me  so,  I  should  have  given  you  credit  for  courage, 
not  less  in  degree,  and  of  a  much  higher  kind,  than  that  which  no 
man  could  doubt  in  you  but  yourself  even  without  the  experiment. 
For  as  the  mind  is  superior  to  matter,  so  is  magnanimity,  or  the  valour 
of  the  mind,  to  that  of  the  nerves.      But  I  am  still  better  pleased 
to  know  that  you  have  both.      I   know  that  you   resolve  almost  all 
questions  of  conduct,  small  as  well  as  great,  into  questions  oi  duty; 
and  if  you  sometimes  hesitate  when  others  see  no  room  for  doubt,  it 
is  in  a  great  degree  because  you  are  more  anxious  to  be  right,  and 
the  chance  of  being  wrong  is  more  uneasy  to  you  than  to  almost  any 
man  I  have  ever  known.    I  honour  this  principle  too  highly  to  quarrel 
even  with  any  little  Error  in  the  going  of  the  machine  that  may  be 
incident  to  it.     My  indulgence  is  indeed  the  cheaper,  as   I   cannot 
refuse  myself  the  justice  to  claim  kindred  with  you  here  also.     But 
I  have  thought  of  a  compensation  piece,  or  rather  a  balance',  to 
steady  these  little  fluctuations,  and  to  render  the  motion  more  uniform, 
which  I  dedicate  to  you  as  a  Patron  of  such  improvements,  hoping 
to  give   no  offence    to    Sir    George    Shuckborough    or    the    Astro- 
nomer Royal.      The  invention  has  this  presumption  in  its  favour, 
that  it  is  perfectly  simple.      It  is  only  a  certain  degree  oi  hardiness 
in  acting  on  what  appears  to  be  right  on  Balance.     Suppose  a  scale 
of  Right  in  which  20  is  the  highest  number.     Take  then  an  alterna- 
'  The  metaphors  are  suggested  by  Windham's  work  on  the  Mudge  committee. 


SIR   G.    ELLIOT   TO   WINDHAM  45 

tive  to  decide  on,  of  which  one  side  shall  stand  in  the  scale  at  10 — the 
other  at  9 — I  say  act  on  10  as  firmly  as  if  9  did  not  exist.  You  will 
say  the  hesitation  is  occasion'd  by  the  difficulty  of  observing  correctly 
at  what  number  each  side  stands ; — not  by  want  of  firmness  afterwards. 
I  am  not  sure  of  this.  Hesitation  is  often  occasioned  by  what  you 
say,  and  then  it  is  right;  but  there  is  also  in  many  cases  a  subsequent 
hesitation,  and  fluctuation,  as  if  the  two  sides  of  the  question  were 
pulling,  not  uniformly  and  constantly  one  ag*^  the  other,  so  that  the 
strongest  should  be  sure  of  prevailing,  but  separately,  and  alter- 
nately, so  that  though  the  strongest  pulls  furthest  at  each  pull,  yet 
in  the  interval  of  its  action,  the  weaker  pulls  back  again,  and  great 
part  of  the  work  must  be  perpetually  repeated,  and  then  the  question 
is  determined  not  by  who  pulls  strongest  but  who  pulls  last. 
When  I  mention'd  your  anxiety  to  be  right  I  did  not  mean  to  talk 
of  any  error,  on  the  contrary  it  is  to  this  excellent  part  of  your 
character  that  a  great  proportion  of  the  homage  which  the  whole 
world  is  paying  you  ought  to  be  ascribed  ;  and  amongst  the  rest,  it 
is  to  this  virtuous  principle  that  for  one  I  profess  to  give  the  very 
high  esteem  which  you  know  I  have  for  you,  although  I  beg  you  to 
remember  that  I  claim  friendship  and  affection  with  you  on  many 
other  grounds  of  private  endearment  and  early  habits.  I  mention'd 
your  anxiety  on  these  points,  only  to  say  that  I  enter  entirely  into  it 
on  this  occasion  ;  and  am  therefore  very  happy  to  give  you  my  clear 
suffrage  both  for  what  you  have  done,  and  what  you  have  omitted. 
You  was  certainly  right  to  visit  the  Trenches.  You  would  have 
certainly  been  most  exceedingly  culpable  for  mounting  a  breach,  or 
otherwise  exposing  your  life  to  considerable,  and,  in  your  case,  wholly 
gratuitous,  and  impertinent  hazard.  I  f  others  did  so,  in  my  opinion 
they  were  wrong ;  but  no  two  cases  are  alike  on  this  question,  and 
taking  all  circumstances  into  the  account,  Publick  and  private,  it 
would  have  been  more  blameable  in  you  than  any  Englishman,  or 
perhaps  any  other  man  alive. — It  is  now  time  to  talk  to  you  of  some- 
thing else,  not  less  important  perhaps  than  the  scene  you  have  left, 
tho'  less  splendid  and  animating.  But  it  is  the  proper  sphere  of 
your  action ;  and  one  in  which  you  are  not  a  spectator,  but  called  by 
God  who  gave  you  the  means,  by  the  world  which  wants  the  use  of 


46  SIR   G.    ELLIOT   TO   WINDHAM 

them,  by  yourself  and  friends,  towards  both  of  whom  you  have  an 
account  to  render,  to  perform  a  principal  part.  I  seem  to  be  threat- 
ening you  with  the  subject  at  large ;  but  altho'  I  wish  to  do  so,  and 
I  know  I  could  find  no  time  more  favourable  than  when  you  are  just 
returned  from  witnessing  great  exertions  in  the  same  common  cause, 
and  must  therefore  be  the  more  impressed  with  the  duty  and  desire 
to  be  doing  yourself,  and  to  take  your  share  in  these  great  concerns 
of  the  world,  yet  I  must  for  want  of  time  confine  myself  to  one  part 
of  the  subject  which  does  not  admit  of  delay. 

I  left  London  the  day  before  you.  On  my  arrival  here  I 
reflected  on  what  had  passed  between  us  concerning  Lord  Spencer 
and  the  possibility  of  his  acceptance.  This  was  not  known  to 
Ministers,  who  thought  on  the  contrary  the  thing  over.  They 
might  therefore  take  such  steps  towards  another  arrangement,  or 
might  fix  some  much  worse  choice.  Thinking  as  I  do,  that  Lord 
Spencer's  filling  that  most  important  and  critical  station  is  of  real 
and  urgent  consequence  to  that  country,  to  this  country,  and  con- 
sidering the  sort  of  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  thence,  to  the 
rest  of  the  world,  I  judged  it  absolutely  necessary  to  let  Dundas 
know  iki^ possibility  of  his  going  to  Ireland.  I  did  so  by  letter,  but 
with  every  sort  of  caution  which  could  prevent  Lord  Spencer  from 
being  committed.  I  desired  M''  D.  to  wait  for  your  return  before  any 
step  should  be  taken  towards  renewing  the  proposition  to  Lord 
Spencer.  He  promises  to  do  so,  in  his  answer,  but  presses  me  to 
lose  no  time  after  your  arrival,  in  getting  you  to  bring  the  subject 
forward.  If  you  receive  this  letter  in  Town  you  had  much  better 
see  Pitt,  or  Dundas,  on  the  subject  immediately.  If  not  you  will  I 
am  sure  feel  the  importance  of  the  matter  sufficiently  to  use  such 
means  as  occur  to  you  with  L^'  S.  instantly.  The  Irish  arrangement 
stands  entirely  still  on  this  account,  and  Gov''  is  naturally,  I  believe, 
impatient  to  settle  it.  I  rec"^'  your  letter  this  morning  and  have  time 
for  no  more.  I  presume  you  will  be  in  England  before  this  letter 
reaches  London.  Ly  Malmesbury  is  here  on  her  way  to  Kinnaird, 
Sir  David  Carnegie's.  L^  Elliot  sends  you  her  kindest  comp*  and 
is  happy  to  hear  that  your  tour  has  given  you  so  much  satisfaction, 
but  she  will  not  repent  of  my  having  resisted  the  same  temptation. 


SIR    G.    ELLIOT   TO    WINDHAM  47 

I  hope  when  you  answer  this  to  hear  that  your  health  has  not  sufifer'd, 
and  that  you  have  recovered  the  extraordinary  fatigue  you  have  been 
exposed  to. 

Do  not  delay  the  Irish  business  ;  but  if  you  have  leisure,  pray 
write  your  present  thoughts  and  intentions  on  what  relates  to  your 
own  situation.  The  enemies  of  all  good,  as  you  so  well  call  them, 
seem  to  have  hopes  from  Ireland.  Your  stout  co-operation  in 
England  will  be  wanted,  and  I  confess  I  look  forward  with  comfort 
to  the  prospect  of  acting  in  concert  with  you,  tho'  on  a  different 
stage ;  possibly  of  corresponding  directly  with  you  on  this  great 
work. 

Believe  me  ever,   My  dear  Windham, 

Most  affectionately  yours 

Gilbert  Elliot. 

Lord  Spencer  need  not,  and  I  think  should  not,  know  of  my  letter 
to  Dundas. 


Sir  Gilbert    Elliot   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37852,  f.  216.) 

MiNTO, 

13///  Aug*  1793. 
My  dear  Windham, 

Not  having  heard  from  you  I  presume  you  are  taking 

steps  with  Lord  Spencer,  and  that  you  will  not  write  till  you  can  tell 

me  the  result.      I   am  so  far  off  that  a  great  delay  will  be  occasion'd 

by  making  me  the  medium  of  your  communication  with  Dundas  on 

this  subject ;  and  as  I  advised  you  to  go  directly  to  him,  I  have  now 

advised  him  to  see  or  write  to  you  on  the  subject.     I  thought  it  right 

to  let  you  know,  however,  that  I  have  done  so.     The  more  I  hear  of 

Ireland  the  more  important  I  think  L"^  Spencer's  mission,  and  the 

more  anxious  I  am  for  his  acceptance  of  it. 

You  know,  or  if  not,  I  tell  you  in  confidence  that  Lord  Malmes- 

bury  is  extremely  desirous  of  Ireland.     I   shall  speak  to  you  quite 

frankly  on  the  subject.     Lord  Spencer's  character  and  name  is  of  the 


48  SIR   G.    ELLIOT    TO    WINDHAM 

sort  that  is  wanted  there,  and  being  united  with  understanding  and 
Talents,  I  consider  him  as  precisely  what  the  occasion  calls  for,  and 
cannot  help  feeling  that  the  country  has  a  strong  claim  to  his  services. 
If  it  should  happen  however  that  they  cannot  be  obtained,  and  he  is 
put  out  of  the  question,  not  knowing  any  other  person  of  the  same 
description  on  whom  the  choice  can  fall,  I  presume  it  will  be  made 
on  a  different  principle,  and  they  will  either  fix  on  ■s.ovn^  friend  oi -a. 
negative  quality ;  or  employ  some  able  man  of  business.  The  latter 
would  be  the  better  principle,  provided  character  is  not  too  much 
forgot  in  the  choice.  Looking  through  the  Peerage,  1  believe 
impartially  that  they  will  find  none  so  well  qualified  by  ability,  official 
habits,  and  the  great  talent  of  knowing  and  conciliating  men,  as 
Lord  Malmesbury.  The  entire  cordiality  and  confidence  between 
him  and  me  would  undoubtedly  be  another  very  favourable  and 
useful  point,  and  if  there  may  be  supposed  any  difference  between 
his  general  views  and  mine  of  Publick  Principles  and  dutys,  I  will 
venture  to  say  that  in  the  sort  of  business  which  belongs  to  that 
office,  he  will  be  more  likely  to  approach  to  me,  than  to  draw  me 
after  him.  In  a  word,  after  L*'  Spencer  I  should  prefer  him,  and 
I  am  perswaded  he  is  amongst  the  best,  if  not  the  best  qualified.  I 
feel  however  the  impossibility  of  my  suggesting  either  him  or  any 
other.  I  mention  all  this  to  you,  both  for  the  sake  of  saying  every- 
thing to  you  which  I  think,  and  also  that  if  you  should  happen  to 
agree  with  me  and  an  opportunity  should  occur  in  which  that  opinion 
might  drop  from  you,  it  might  not  be  lost.  I  pledge  my  Faith  and 
Honour  to  you  in  the  meanwhile  that  L'^  Malmesbury  shall  never 
know  of  his  name  having  been  mention'd  to  you  unless  it  should 
hereafter  prove  agreeable  to  you  ;  so  you  can  feel  yourself  under  no 
embarrassment  of  delicacy  on  this  subject.  I  long  to  have  Valen- 
ciennes in  detail  from  you ;  but  that  will  not  be  tomorrow. 

Believe  me  ever,  My  Dear  Windham, 
Your  most  affectionate 

Gilbert  Elliot. 
Minto — Hawick  by  Carlisle. 


burke  to  windham  49 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.   iv.   132.) 

Beconsfield, 

Aug.   18,   1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

It  is  with  no  small  affliction  I  find  that  what  I  feared  as 
probable  is  at  length  become  certain,  and  that,  after  fluctuating  a 
long  time  without  any  system,  we  have  adopted  one  that,  in  my 
opinion,  is  completely  ruinous.  I  know  very  well  that  it  may  be 
defended  on  many  plausible  topics  and  principles.  All  routine,  both 
political  and  military,  is  in  its  favour.  It  is  not,  however,  the  better 
for  that  ;  because  neither  the  present  politics,  nor  the  present  war, 
are  war  and  politics  of  routine.  France  is  strong  at  arm's  length. 
She  is,  I  am  convinced,  weakness  itself,  if  you  can  get  to  grapple 
with  her  internally.  If  you  keep  on  the  frontier — if  you  should  even 
gain  all  the  frontier — she  may,  if  you  are  resolved  to  give  her  time, 
(which  is  giving  her  everything,)  make  another  frontier  ;  it  is  indeed 
nearly  ready  made. 

As  to  getting  Dunkirk,  it  is  getting  nothing  at  all.  It  is  a  retro- 
grade proceeding.  But  I  shall  trouble  myself  no  more  in  a  business, 
in  which  I  can  do  little  or  nothing  more  than  give  uneasiness  to 
myself  and  others.  Three  things  are  requisite,  all  subject  to  great 
uncertainty,  to  make  this  plan  produce  any  of  the  effects  zae  wish 
from  it : — First,  That  this  Nation  will  be  satisfied  to  continue  the  war 
for  another  year,  when  it  is  evident  no  real  impression  is  made  on 
the  body  of  the  French  system : — Second,  That  the  allies  will  hold 
together : — Third,  That  they  all  will,  a  year  hence,  mean  the  ruin 
of  the  system  in  France.  All  these  must  happen  to  make  this 
scheme  of  war  answer  any  other  than  the  end  of  a  defensive  ;  in  the 
present  state  of  things,  with  regard  to  France,  the  most  absurd  of 
all  imaginations.      If  no  other  is  possible  we  must  submit. 

I  remember  in  the  last  war,  at  the  taking  of  St  Eustatius,  the 
most  general  illumination  in  my  memory.  Now !  It  looks  as  if  the 
ministers  were  afraid  of  the  people's  growing  too  fond  of  their 
measures.     This  American  is  an  ugly  and  thorny  affair.      It  was  in 

B.-VV.  c.  7 


50  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

time  of  war,  I  was  always  of  opinion,  we  should  feel  the  loss  of  the 
Colonies. 

I  am  very  sorry  we  cannot  see  you, — but  I  do  not  know  whether 
we  are  to  regret  it  either.  The  efforts  of  the  enemy  in  your  counties 
ought  to  be  resisted. 

Ever  most  truly  and  affectionately  yours 

Edm.   Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-   23-) 

BeCONS  FIELD, 

Aug.  20,   1793. 

My  d"  Sir, 

You  may  easily  believe  that  your  letter  of  yesterday 
(which  I  received  before  I  went  to  bed  last  night)  did  not  tend  to  set 
my  mind  much  at  ease,  except  with  regard  to  the  few  words  you  say 
of  Pelham.  It  is  very  material  that  a  man  of  his  importance  by  all 
titles  should  be  quite  right.  There  is  but  one  point  of  view  in  which 
this  strange  proceeding  with  regard  to  Dunkirk  can  give  one  any 
comfort :  That  however  is  not  very  probable.  There  is  some  resem- 
blance between  great  absurdity  and  deep  design.  To  be  sure  the 
road  from  Crevecoeur  (to  which  the  D.  of  York  advanced  in  order  to 
retreat)  is  within  a  triffle  as  near  to  Paris  as  to  Dunkirk  ;  and,  if 
Cambray  were  taken,  is  as  little  liable  to  molestation  from  any 
strong  places  of  the  Enemy  or  rather  less  so.  But  I  shall  say  some- 
thing more  upon  this  subject  by  and  by.  For  a  great  deal  depends 
on  it. 

M""^  Crewe^  is  here,  and  very  busy  on  a  Charitable  Scheme.      I 
wish  her  success.     She  stays  here  tomorrow.     Can  you  come  ? 

My  d--  S'",  ever  afif^^y  Y^ 

Edm.  Burke. 

'  Frances  Anne,  wife  of  John  Crewe,  afterwards  ist  Baron  Crewe,  and  the  subject 
of  the  famous  Whig  toast,  "  True  Blue  and  Mrs  Crewe." 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  5I 

M"^  Burke  and  I  dined  at  Lord  Grenville's  yesterday.  Pitt  dined 
there  on  his  way  to  Somersetshire.  Not  one  word  of  Politicks. 
They  did  not  open,  and   I  did  not  press. 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   134.) 

August  23,   1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  very  happy  in  this  advantage,  though,  with  you,  I 
wish  it  had  been  less  dearly  bought.  Since  this  unfortunate  object 
of  Dunkirk  is  chosen,  it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  we  should  not 
add  to  the  disgrace  of  a  bad  choice,  that  of  an  unfortunate  execution. 
This  stroke,  I  must  take  it  for  granted,  was  necessary  for  our  advanc- 
ing to  Dunkirk.  It  looks  as  if  neither  we,  nor  the  Dutch,  were 
sufficiently  apprised  of  the  real  force  of  the  enemy. 

What  a  dreadful  affair  is  this  of  St  Domingo.  In  horror  with 
regard  to  the  act,  and  as  a  cause  of  indignation  against  the  actors,  it 
exceeds  the  late  massacre  of  Paris.  The  systematic  plan  of  exter- 
mination the  Jacobins  have  pursued  in  that  fine  island,  and  which 
they  intended  for  every  other  island,  seems  to  me  to  form  the  top 
of  the  climax  of  their  wickedness.  Their  partisans  here  affect  to 
shudder  if  twenty  men  are  killed  in  a  skirmish,  and  yet  they  are 
enthusiasts  in  favour  of  those  who  have  reduced  sedition,  assassina- 
tion, general  robbery,  general  massacre  and  general  combustion,  into 
a  sort  of  regular  art  and  a  sort  of  morality.  Every  day  we  live  will 
convince  thinking  men,  that  there  are  evils  to  which  the  calamities 
of  war  are  blessings.  Well!  we  have  done  very  properly  in  a 
vigorous  opposition  to  Jacobinism  under  the  plausible  disguise  of 
peace.  Had  it  gone  on,  in  my  opinion,  the  burning  down  of  half  of 
London,  after  the  massacre  of  half  its  inhabitants,  would  have  been  a 
cheap  composition  for  the  whole  kingdom.  I  do  not  flatter  myself, 
that  the  English  branch  of  the  Jacobin  family  is  a  jot  better  than  the 
French.  If  it  were  fifty  per  cent,  better,  I  should  still  think  it  a 
most  abominable  thing.  We  must  continue  to  be  vigorous  alarmists. 
M'  Coke's  conduct  shows  to  what  the  spirit  of  faction  may  carry  a 

7—2 


52  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

man.  But  these  rich  men  must  not  be  suffered  to  be  a  prey  to  their 
own  folly  and  madness.  I  trust  in  God,  that  some  will  be  found 
who  will  provide  better  for  their  safety  than  they  do  themselves. 
These  squirrels  are  charmed  by  the  rattlesnake,  and  would  jump  into 
his  mouth.  Save  your  neighbour.  Cape  saxa  manu,  cape  robora 
pastor,  etc.  etc^.  They  ask  what  they  are  toget  by  this  war  }  Why!  the 
wretches,  they  get  their  existence, — they  get  the  power  of  playing 
the  fool  with  impunity  by  it, — and  is  that  nothing  ? 

God  bless  you,  and  many  thanks.     We  have  got  the  turtle,  and 
thank  M^**  Lukin. 

Ever  faithfully  yours, 

Edm.   Burke. 


Windham   to   Duke  of   Portland. 

(Add.  MS.  3784s.  f-   I3-) 

Felbrigg, 

Sept.  3rd,  1793. 
My  dear  Lord, 

I  was  more  unfortunate  than  your  Grace  can  conceive  in 
missing  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  at  my  return  from  the  Continent. 
Lord  William  had  told  me  so  confidently,  that  you  would  certainly 
be  at  Welbeck,  that  I  was  careless  about  inquiring  the  first  day  of 
my  arrival  ;  and  the  day  afterwards,  I  think,  had  the  mortification  of 
finding  that,  if  I  /lad  inquired,  I  should  have  been  in  time. 

Among  my  reasons  of  regret  on  this  occasion  is  the  missing  an 
opportunity  of  talking  to  your  Grace  on  subjects  which  however 
little  pleasant  to  me,  I  am  sure,  and  probably  even  to  your  Grace, 
are  not  for  that  reason  less  necessary  to  be  considered.  I  fear  the 
return  of  such  questions  as  that  which  I  mentioned  to  your  Grace  at 
the  close  of  the  last  Session  :  which,  though  laid  asleep  for  the 
present,  will  probably  be  brought  up  again :  and  I  wish  to  put  myself 
in  as  good  a  state  as  I  can  for  forming  a  firm  and  satisfactory  judge- 
ment upon  them.  The  situation,  beyond  all  comparison,  most 
agreable  to  me  would  be  that  of  a  mere  member  of  Parliament, 

'  Virgil,  Georg.  ni.  420. 


WINDHAM    TO    PORTLAND  53 

maintaining  from  time  to  time  my  own  opinion  in  debate,  and  giving 
to  Ministry,  in  a  cause  which  I  approved,  the  benefit  of  a  support, 
which  would  become  of  some  value  from  its  total  exemption  from 
the  suspicion  of  any  undue  motive.  The  thought  of  any  closer 
connection  is  one  from  which  I  shrink  with  perfect  dread  ;  yet  I  am 
far  from  being  convinced  that  it  may  not  be  necessary ;  and  for  that 
reason  am  anxious  to  be  provided  as  much  as  possible  with  the 
opinions  and  views  of  those,  to  whose  judgements  I  am  accustomed 
to  look  up,  and  with  a  view  to  whose  conduct  I  should  wish  to 
regulate  my  own. 

It  is  plain  that  the  plan  of  those  who  are  friendly  in  different 
degrees  to  the  French  system,  is  to  endeavour  to  rescue  it  from 
final  overthrow  by  rendering  the  war  unpopular  here,  and  thus  to 
destroy  the  confederacy  which  at  present  threatens  it  and  which, 
when  once  dissolved,  is  never  likely  to  be  again  united.  If  this  plan 
succeeds,  there  is  an  end,  in  my  opinion,  to  all  hopes  of  maintaining 
the  constitution  of  this  country,  or  of  preserving  anything  like 
regular  and  orderly  government  in  any  country  in  Europe.  Should 
it  even  fail,  I  do  not  conceive  it  will  fail  so  completely,  or  the 
success  of  the  opposite  system  be  so  entire,  as  not  to  leave  Europe 
exposed  for  a  series  of  years  to  the  danger  which  now  threatens  it, 
and  not  to  require  all  the  exertions  which  wise  and  well-intentioned 
men  can  use,  to  keep  down  the  operation  of  opposite  principles. 
The  differences  therefore  that  now  separate  people  in  their  political 
conduct  are  not  only  of  the  most  important  kind,  but  likely,  as  I 
conceive,  to  be  of  very  long  continuance.  To  me  it  seems  that  the 
world  in  my  time  is  not  likely  to  be  in  [a]  state  in  which,  with  such 
opinions  as  I  conceive  Fox  to  have,  and  with  such  persons  as  He 
will  probably  be  for  ever  connected  with,  I  could  wish  to  see  him 
Minister  of  this  country.  The  only  choice,  therefore,  that  will  be 
left  to  me  and  others  who  are  of  that  opinion,  will  be  either  to  remain 
a  third  body,  or  rather  a  third  independent  collection  of  individuals, 
supporting  Ministry  but  not  joining  them  ;  or  to  incorporate  our- 
selves, at  some  period,  and  in  some  circumstances,  with  those  to 
whom,  as  party-men,  we  have  hitherto  been  opposed.  This  question, 
on  which  there  is  probably  much  diversity  of  opinion,  among  those 


54  WINDHAM    TO    PORTLAND 

even  who  admit  it  to  be  the  only  one  remaining,  and  on  which  much 
may  be  said  on  both  sides,  might  safely  perhaps  be  deferred  and  left 
to  the  decision  of  future  circumstances,  if  it  was  not  for  that  part 
which  involves  the  consideration  of  Ireland.  The  situation  of  Ireland 
is  so  important  and  so  critical,  that  it  forms  an  epoch  by  itself  and 
may  be  a  reason  for  anticipating  a  decision,  which  otherwise  it  might 
be  very  desirable  to  keep  for  some  time  in  suspense. 

The  views  which  open  on  this  occasion,  if  Ministry  are  fairly 
desirous  on  their  part  of  establishing  a  government  on  a  firm  and 
Constitutional  basis  and  restoring  to  the  Aristocracy  of  the  country 
the  influence  which  they  have  so  much  contributed  to  strip  it  of  and 
if  it  is  thought  on  the  other,  that  such  a  union  ought  to  take  place, 
would  be  of  course,  that  some  person  of  proper  consideration  should 
go  to  Ireland,  while  a  corresponding  weight,  sufficient  to  ensure  an 
honourable  support,  should  be  placed  in  the  Cabinet  here.  Persons 
proper  for  all  those  stations  are  certainly  not  wanting,  nor  would  an 
arrangement  for  their  admission  seem  to  be  difficult,  supposing 
Ministry  to  have  a  real  view  to  the  Interests  of  the  country,  and  not 
to  be  seeking  merely  to  break  and  disunite  those,  who  might  in 
future  be  opposed  to  them.  The  wishes  of  ministry  have  hitherto 
seemed  to  point  only  to  L^i  Spencer ;  but  if  the  grounds,  on  which 
this  wish  has  been  formed,  have  been  good,  it  would  apply  not  more 
to  him  than  to  others  of  similar  description,  could  they  be  induced 
to  take  that  situation.  At  all  events  L'*  Spencer  would  hardly  be 
induced  to  place  himself  there,  nor  could  well  indeed  be  advised  to 
do  so,  without  a  better  assurance  of  support  at  home,  than  there 
appears  at  present  the  means  of  forming.  If  Ministers  are  not 
sincere  or  not  honest  in  their  views, — an  opinion  which  I  should 
have  no  particular  difficulty  in  admitting — nothing  remains  but  to 
continue  the  course  which  one  is  at  present  pursuing :  but  if  the  fact 
be  otherwise,  and  that  they  are  really  desirous,  though  for  purposes 
of  their  own,  of  forming  an  administration  on  its  true  bottom,  it  is  a 
matter  certainly  to  be  well  considered,  whether  such  a  disposition 
ought  to  be  frustrated  and  an  opportunity  lost  which  may  never 
again  return  with  equal  advantage  to  the  country. 

I  am  sure  I  am  as  impartial  upon  this  subject  as  a  person  can 


SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM 


55 


well  be,  as  impartial  at  least,  if  I  may  make  a  good  bull,  on  one  side : 
for  there  is  really  nothing,  that  I  dread  so  much,  as  the  necessity  of 
taking  any  part  in  a  measure  which  I  seem  to  be  recommending; 
though  I  have  brought  myself  to  the  state  of  being  ready  to  do  what- 
ever should  be  necessary,  I  am  very  far  from  having  prepared  myself 
equally  in  point  of  inclination.  My  likings  are  all  the  other  way, 
and  are  yielded  only  to  arguments  which  I  don't  know  well  how  to 
resist. 

If  Welbeck  were  not  so  distant,  or  my  desire  so  strong  of  enjoy- 
ing for  some  time  a  state  of  perfect  retirement,  I  should  like  to  wait 
upon  your  Grace  and  talk  over  these  matters  more  fully  than  can  be 
done  by  letter.  Your  Grace,  however,  may  be  as  well  satisfied  not 
to  hear  of  them  ;  and  it  may  be  necessary  rather  to  apologise,  for 
having  said  so  much,  than  to  regret  the  want  of  an  opportunity  of 
saying  more.  At  all  events  I  will  desist  here.  It  would  have  been 
pleasant  to  me  to  have  seen  your  Grace  when  I  came  fresh  from 
seeing  Lord  William ;  and  to  have  told  you  how  much  his  character 
appears  to  advantage,  as  it  is  more  and  more  discovered.  Though 
such  testimonials  you  must  have  had  from  many  other  persons,  I  am 
happy  to  add  mine  to  the  number.  The  Duchess  I  hope  is  well. 
Let  me  beg  your  Grace  to  believe  me  ever 

Your  most  obedient  and  faithful  Humble  servant 

W.  Windham. 


Earl   Spencer  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.   112.) 

Oxford, 

Sep.   14,  1793. 
Dear  Windham, 

I  met  with  your  Letter  of  the  1 2^^  here  on  my  way  back 
to  Althorp  from  Hampshire,  and  having  a  leisure  quarter  of  an  hour 
before  bed  time  avail  myself  of  it  to  thank  you.  I  confess  I  expected 
pretty  much  that  the  Person'  whose  opinion  you  speak  of  in  it  would 

'  The  Duke  of  Portland  ? 


56  SPENCER    TO    WINDHAM 

entertain  those  sentiments,  and  perhaps,  though  I  entirely  agree 
with  you  in  not  having  the  least  hope  of  a  Reunion  with  the  Quarter 
alluded  to,  they  are  such  as  I  cannot  be  surprised  at  or  altogether 
disapprove,  considering  all  circumstances ;  for  that  Person,  having 
always  professed  so  strong  a  diffidence  of  those  in  power,  has  surely 
no  great  reason  for  wishing  a  connection  with  them  from  anything 
that  has  happened  very  lately,  and  on  the  contrary  may  probably  be 
less  inclined  to  it,  from  what  must  at  least  to  him  have  appeared  in 
the  Light  of  Endeavours  to  detach  from  him  as  many  as  possible  of 
those  of  his  friends  whose  sentiments  are  the  most  like  his  own,  and 
who  were  the  persons  most  likely  to  have  co-operated  with  him  in 
support  of  those  sentiments.  I  agree  with  you  in  being  decidedly 
of  Opinion  that  I  could  not  go  the  least  out  of  my  way  upon  a  hope  of 
Reunion  with  the  other  Gentleman^  whose  opinions,  if  they  are  really 
such  as  his  late  conduct  would  lead  one  to  infer,  are  such  as  I  should 
be  extremely  sorry  to  give  any  countenance  to.  The  other  part  of 
your  intelligence  may  possibly  be  true,  and  if  it  is,  will  (as  it  appears 
to  me)  circumscribe  the  Part  we  have  to  take  within  very  narrow 
Limits  indeed,  as  it  will  put  it  out  of  our  power  to  think  of  any  other 
than  an  unconnected  support  of  Governm*,  while  at  the  same  Time 
the  State  of  affairs  will  probably  call  for  a  support  the  most  decided. 
Since  you  wrote,  your  opinion  upon  the  Dunkirk  Expedition  will 
not  have  been  rendered  more  favourable,  though  I  am  in  hopes,  by 
the  News  of  today's  Papers,  that  it  is  not  so  bad  as  we  had  great 
reason  to  apprehend  ;  but  if  the  Plan  was  a  bad  one,  the  Execution 
of  it  does  not  appear  to  have  made  amends  for  the  Error,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  all  those  who  wish  to  defend  the  Continuation  of  the  War, 
will  be  a  little  put  to  it  to  give  a  good  Account  of  the  Conduct  of 
it.  I  have  not  heard  since  from  the  Army,  and  I  conclude  that  my 
correspondent  either  does  not  like  to  write  unpleasant  Accounts,  or 
that  he  has  lately  been  too  much  upon  Duty  to  have  an  opportunity 
of  writing.     The  Accounts  from  Toulon-  seem  to  be  confirmed  in 

•  Fox? 

"^  Occupied  by  Lord  Hood,  in  concert  with  the  Royalists  there,  29  Aug.  1793.  It 
was  rendered  untenable  in  November  by  Bonaparte's  skilful  disposition  of  his  artillery, 
and  was  abandoned,  after  the  arsenal  and  ships  had  been  burnt,  on  19  Dec.  following. 


SPENCER   TO   WINDHAM  57 

the  Papers  of  today,  with  so  many  particulars  that  I  hope  we  shall 
find  them  true,  but  I  don't  quite  understand  what  is  to  be  done  about 
it,  as  I  have  no  idea  of  L'^  Hood's  having  land  force  sufficient  to 
defend  the  Place,  and  the  Manner  in  which  it  seems  to  have  been 
taken  would,  I  should  think,  scarce  permit  of  his  making  the  sort  of 
use  of  the  capture  that  an  Englishman  could  wish,  that  is  to  take 
possession  of,  or  destroy,  their  ships  and  naval  stores  there.  I  hope 
however  his  Lordship  will  send  a  more  distinct  and  intelligible 
account  of  his  Transactions  than  your  friend  Sir  James  Murray^ 
does,  who  I  really  think  improves  in  obscurity  and  mysteriousness 
every  dispatch  he  writes.  I  am  very  glad  you  have  not  yet  sent  me 
back  C.  Fitzroy's  Letter,  as  it  will  be  another  opportunity  for  you  to 
write  something  with  it,  and  now  I  have  drawn  you  into  a  correspond- 
ence, I  shall  be  very  unwilling,  I  assure  you,  to  lose  any  occasion  of 
encouraging  you  to  the  continuance  of  it. 

I  was  in  Town  for  a  day  last  Saturday,  and  I  saw  Sir  Gilb*  Elliott 
in  the  Street ;  I  was  in  a  great  Hurry  at  the  Time,  or  I  should  have 
stopt  to  speak  with  him  ;  what  can  have  brought  him  up  from 
Scotland  so  soon  ?" 

I  hear  that  Pari*  is  to  meet  on  the  29'''^  of  October  ;  I  hope  I 
shall  be  able  to  see  you  before  that  time,  and  shall  be  glad  to  know 
whether  you  are  to  be  at  Felbrigge  about  the  6*^  of  that  month, 
because  I  am  not  quite  sure  whether  I  could  not  then  contrive  to  call 
on  you  for  a  day. 

Yours  very  faithfully 

Spencer. 


'  Afterwards  Murray-Pulteney,  7th  Baronet,  Adjutant  to  the  Duke  of  York  in 
Flanders. 

'  He  had  come  up  in  connexion  with  the  Dunkirk  scheme,  but  a  few  days  later 
(17  Sept.)  his  destination  was  altered  to  Toulon.  In  his  letter  of  the  i8th  announcing 
this  to  Windham  he  adds  the  hope  that  "  as  the  gruel  thickens,  or  to  speak  without 
metaphor,  as  the  danger  of  the  world  increases,  you  will  come  to  think  action  the  first 
duty  and  responsibility  pretty  nearly  a  point  of  honour."  He  started  on  18  Oct.  and 
landed  at  Toulon  19  Nov. 


B.-w.  c. 


58  SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM 


Earl   Spencer  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845.  f-  114.) 

S''^  Albans, 

Sep.   18,   1793. 

Dear  Windham, 

I  sit  down  to  write  to  you  without  having  very  well 
considered  in  my  own  Mind  what  I  am  to  write,  but  having  a  little 
leisure  cannot  avoid  communicating  the  apprehensions  I  have  been 
forced  into  from  observing  the  very  awkward  predicament  in  which 
we  seem  to  have  got,  the  difficulties  of  which  appear  to  increase 
and  grow  more  complicated  every  day.  I  was  this  morning  for  a 
few  hours  in  London,  where  dissatisfaction  and  dejection  seemed  to 
me  very  apparent  in  the  face  and  language  of  every  one  I  happened 
to  meet  with.  The  late  total  failure  of  the  Dunkirk  scheme  has 
been  a  great  cause  of  this  and  the  very  censureable  neglect  or 
mismanagement  or  perhaps  both  together  so  conspicuous  in  the 
Admiralty  has  not  a  little  added  to  it ;  it  is  currently  reported  that 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  has  justified  his  own  share  of  the  business 
in  a  manner  unanswerable,  by  producing  the  minutest  and  exactest 
detail  of  all  the  Orders  received  and  executed  in  his  department ; 
the  necessary  consequence  of  his  justification  appears  to  be 
L"^  Chatham's  condemnation,  and  between  them  they  have  been  the 
mean  of  crowning  a  rash  and  ill  concerted  plan  with  a  lame  and 
inefficient  Execution.  My  chief  reason  for  making  all  these  reflec- 
tions is  that  I  foresee  that  we  shall  by  and  by,  when  these  matters 
are,  as  they  certainly  will  be,  brought  before  the  publick  with  all  the 
exaggeration  and  aggravation  that  malice  and  ability  can  give  them, 
find  ourselves  in  a  most  distressing  position,  either  obliged  to  defend 
what  we  cannot  in  conscience  think  defensible,  or  if  we  join  in  the 
clamour,  which  I  very  much  fear  will  soon  become  a  popular  one, 
give  strength  to  those  whose  strength  will  be  the  Ruin  and  Subver- 
sion of  everything  which  we  most  wish  to  preserve.      It  will  be  too 


SPENCER   TO   WINDHAM  59 

much,  I  doubt,  to  expect  from  M*"  Pitt,  that  he  will  have  publick 
spirit  enough  to  sacrifice  his  Brother  if  he  is  really  to  blame,  and  if 
he  does  not  sacrifice  him,  I  shall  be  almost  afraid  in  the  present 
circumstances  of  his  falling  himself;  but  if  he  does  fall,  where  are 
we  to  look  to  supply  his  place  ?  Only  to  those  who  would  (if  they 
are  in  truth  acting  upon  principle)  plunge  us  into  a  System,  which 
would  lead,  for  aught  I  know,  to  all  the  Horrors  and  Miseries  of 
France  :  for  as  to  looking  for  any  third  Party,  of  strength  and  weight 
enough  to  make  head  against  the  joint  Abilities  of  Pitt  and  Fox  with 
all  their  respective  supports  and  appendages,  it  would,  I  think,  in  the 
present  state  of  the  Country,  be  perfectly  chimerical.  To  set  against 
all  the  bad  part  of  our  Prospect,  I  see  nothing  but  Toulon,  and  there 
is  something  about  that  which  I  am  a  little  at  a  loss  whether  to  be 
satisfied  with  or  no ;  I  have  always  had  a  great  aversion  to  engaging 
in  defence  of  any  particular  System  of  French  Politicks,  and  L*^  Hood's 
declarations  are  directly  and  absolutely  in  favour  of  the  Constitution 
of  1789,  which  Constitution,  if  we  are  to  trust  to  Burke,  whose 
predictions  have  been  verified  by  Experience,  contained  in  it  the 
seeds  of  all  the  bitter  fruit  that  followed.  How  do  we  know  that  if 
all  France,  or  at  least  a  great  majority  of  the  country,  were  to  declare 
themselves  for  that  Constitution  and  it  should  in  consequence  be 
established  and  sworn  to  as  it  was  in  1 789,  how  do  we  know  that  it 
might  not  tend  like  the  former  one  to  the  very  same  confusion  and 
excesses  which  the  ill-contrived  balance  of  that  Constitution  gave 
rise  to  before  ?  I  own  I  am  as  much  puzzled  to  determine  in  my 
own  Mind  whether  to  be  glad  or  sorry  for  the  Capture  of  Toulon, 
circumstanced  as  it  is,  as  ever  I  was  in  my  Life  ;  and  I  am  much 
tempted  to  think  that  perhaps  the  best  event  of  that  undertaking  for 
England  would  be  that  they  should  do  something  which  might 
justify  L"^  Hood  in  destroying  their  Fleet  and  Arsenal  there  notwith- 
standing the  Treaty.  You  see,  my  dear  Windham,  that  I  am  taking 
a  very  great  Liberty  with  you,  by  actually  thinking  upon  Paper  to  you, 
for  I  am  now  writing,  just  as  they  occur  to  me,  the  crude  Ideas  that 
suggest  themselves  upon  what  I  hear  and  read  in  the  Newspapers. 
I  should  be  happy  if  these  Ideas  of  mine  might  draw  from  you  some 
better  conceived  and  better  digested  opinions,  and  lead  you  to  point 


6o  SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM 

out  some  plan  of  operation  for  us  in  the  ensuing  parliamentary 
Campaign,  which  we  might  pursue  with  Credit  from  the  publick,  with 
satisfaction  to  ourselves  and  with  advantage  to  the  Cause  we  wish  to 

support. 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Spencer. 


Sir   Gilbert    Elliot   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37852,  f.  220.) 

Spring  Gardens, 

2  Ocf.  1793. 

My  dear  Windham, 

I  am  still  here,  and  do  not  expect  to  set  out  for  Toulon 
before    Thursday    the    10'''^    inst.     I    promised,  not  to  you,   but  to 
myself   that    I    should  write    you  a  long  letter,  but  have  had  my 
thoughts,  as  well  as  the  whole  of  my  time,  forced  another  way,  and 
now  I  flatter  myself  that  I  may  yet  have  the  pleasure  of  talking  over 
with  you,  instead  of  writing,  many  things  that  appear  to  me  extremely 
interesting.     In  this  hope  however,  you  may  very  well  tell  me  that 
I  perhaps  reckon  without  my   host,  as  it  depends  wholly  on  your 
doing  what  you  may  think  it  very  unreasonable  to  expect,  and  what 
at  this  moment  you  have  possibly  no  thoughts  of — it  is  nothing  less 
than  your  coming  to  Town.      I   will  tell  you  very  fairly,  as  I  must 
do  very  shortly,  that  I   really  wish  you  extremely  to  come,  and  that 
the  occasion  is,    I   am  persuaded,    sufficiently  grave    to    incur  this 
sacrifice  of  your  present  comfortable  leisure  for  a  few  days.     It  has 
got  very  much  about  that  you  are  not  only  dissatisfied  with  some 
things  that  have  passed  during  this  campaign,  but  that  you  have 
expressed  so  indiscriminately  that  opinion,  as  to  evince  something 
like  an  intention  of  following  it  up  in  publick.     The  greatest  possible 
uneasiness  is  entertain'd  on  that  account  by  those,  who  may  indeed 
have  a  sufficient  personal  interest  in  the  question,  but  who  also  think 


SIR   G.    ELLIOT    TO    WINDHAM  6 1 

such  a  measure  certain  of  producing  the  most  fatal  consequences  to 
the  common  cause.     It  is  the  duty  of  a  private  as  well  as  a  publick 
friend  to  offer  an  opinion,  if  it  is  decided,  on  matters  of  real  moment. 
Therefore,  my  dear  Windham,  excuse  me ;  consider  me  as  speaking 
still  as  one  linked  in  Publick  as  well  as  private  friendship  with  you, 
and  not  as  already  enter'd  on  my  diplomatick  functions,  if  I  say  that 
I  most  deliberately  and  entirely  agree  with  them  in  thinking  that  what 
they  apprehend  would  be  fatal  to  the  publick  cause  and  interest.      In 
one  opinion  you  will  I  am  sure  agree  with  me,  as  soon  as  it  is  stated, 
viz.  that  not  only  a  Publick  and  formal  opposition  in  Pari*  on  these 
grounds,  but  that  any  intimation  of  a  strong  opinion  from  yoii  on 
that  subject,   is   a  measure,  and    cannot    be    classed  as   the  casual 
conversation  of  indifferent  men.      If  it  is  a  measure,  it  should   be 
taken  on  deliberation,  and  as  a  fair  decision  of  your  Judgment.     For 
this  reason  it  is  that  I  wish  you  to  come  to  Town — to  enquire  where 
your  information  may  be  authentick,  and  to  deliberate  with  those 
with  whom  you  are  accustom'd  to  hold  counsel  what  your  conduct 
should  be,  or  any  result  of  your  inquiries — Dundas  knows  I  meant  to 
write  this  letter,  but  he  does  not  know  what  I  say  to  you.      I  mention 
this  only  that  I  may  not  seem  even  to  myself  to  avail  myself  of  your 
kindness  and  of  our  friendship  for  the  purposes  of  others,  without 
telling  you  distinctly  all  circumstances.      In  truth   I   feel   that  this 
question  is  not  only  so  very  important  for  the  Publick,  but  so  full  of 
delicacy  with  regard  to  yourself  that  I  have  no  hesitation  in  pressing 
you  to  come. — If  you  do  come,  I  must  hojje  on  a  thousand  other 
grounds  that  it  may  be  before  I  lose  this  last  opportunity  of  embrac- 
ing you,   and  carrying  with   me  your  advice    and   good    wishes. — 
Believe  me  ever, 

My  dear  Windham,  Your  most  affectionate 

Gilbert  Elliot. 


62  burke  to  windham 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37852,  f.  22 1*'.) 
[2   Oct.   1793;  written  at  the  foot  of  Elliot's  letter.] 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  do  most  heartily  concur  with  our  friend  in  every  Idea 
he  has  upon  the  subject.  God  knows  how  much  I  feel  the  late 
disastrous  events  ;  which,  bad  as  they  are  in  some  points,  are  all  to 
be  set  to  rights  by  Vigour  and  prudence.  Let  us  endeavour  to 
repair  our  ruins.  Let  us  give  a  remedy  to  our  sufferings.  Let  us 
correct  our  Errours — but  in  the  name  of  the  common  Cause,  let  us 
not  give  advantage  to  those,  who  would  turn  occasional  misfortunes 
into  permanent  calamities,  and  convert  the  mistakes  committed  on 
good  principles  into  but  too  judicious  means  of  promoting  the  worst. 
I   most  heartily  wish  to  see  you  ■ 

and  am  most  truly  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


Several  allusions  in  Burke's  letters  in  the  latter  part  of  this 
year  refer  to  the  recipient  of  the  following  letter.  Mr  (afterwards 
Sir  John)  Coxe  Hippisley,  whom  we  have  already  met  with  in 
this  correspondence  as  the  recipient  of  Windham's  long  letter  of 
28  March  1793,  is  perhaps  best  known  from  his  having  been  at  a 
later  date  the  channel  of  negotiations  whereby  the  last  of  the  Stuarts 
became  the  recipient  of  a  pension  from  George  III.  His  activities 
in  the  years  1 793 — 4  are  fully  described  in  a  voluminous  correspond- 
ence with  Windham  \  They  were  partly  directed  towards  obtaining 
assistance  from  the  papal  court  for  Lord  Hood  and  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot 
in  dealing  with  the  problems  which  beset  British  administrators  in 
the  Mediterranean,  especially  after  the  fall  of  Toulon,  and  partly  to 
a  scheme  for  opening  direct  communication  between  the  British 
government  and  the  papacy. 

'  Add.  MSS.  37848,  37849. 


burke  to  hippisley  63 

Burke  to   Hippisley. 

(Add.  MS.  37848,  f.   297,  a  copy'.) 

London, 

3  Ocf.  1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  remembrance  ; 
and  the  value  of  the  favour  is  much  inhanced  by  what  otherwise  is  a 
matter  of  sincere  concern  to  me,  I  mean  the  ill  state  of  your  health 
when  you  honoured  me  with  a  letter  from  Rome. 

M'"  Windham  is  at  his  House  at  Fellbrigge.  He  takes  at  present 
but  little  part  in  public  affairs,  to  which  however  the  publick  wish 
and  opinion  very  loudly  call  him  at  this  Crisis.  The  majority  of 
the  nation  concurs  with  what  I  believe  to  be  the  desire  of  Ministry, 
that  he  should  serve  his  Country  in  office  as  well  as  in  Parliament. 

As  to  what  you  have  done  with  regard  to  the  supply  of  his 
Majesties  Fleet  in  the  Mediterranean,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its 
propriety.  Tho'  I  trust  we  cannot  now  want  a  supply  of  any  kind 
of  provisions  or  stores,  circumstances  may  happen  to  render  the 
good  disposition  of  the  Government  of  the  Country  where  you  reside 
of  great  use  to  the  general  cause.  Nobody  can  be  so  very  squeamish 
as  to  refuse  Benefits  (nothing  else  will  ever  be  offered  by  his  Holi- 
ness) because  they  come  from  the  Pope.  He  would  be  an  Admiral, 
of  perhaps  wonderfull  Theological  Talents,  but  of  not  quite  such 
splendid  Military  Qualities,  who  should  scruple  the  receipt  of  these 
Indulgences  called  Mtmitions  de  Guerre  et  de  Bouche  from  a  prince- 
prelate  that  believes  in  Purgatory.  I  should  not  think  a  great  deal 
better  of  a  statesman  at  home,  who  from  a  disposition  to  Polemick 
Divinity,  was  so  indifferently  qualified  for  the  conduct  of  any  other 
kind  of  Warfare.  But  we  have  no  such  Admiral  and  no  such 
Ministers. 

I  confess  I  would,  if  the  matter  rested  with  me,  enter  into  much 
more  distinct  and  avowed  political  connections  with  the  Court  of 
Rome  than  hitherto  we  have  held.     If  we  decline  them,  the  Bigotry 

'  Marked  by  Hippisley  as  "  received    from    Lord   Grenville,  with  a  letter  dated 
29''*  October,  at  Rome,  20  Nov.   1793." 


64  BURKE    TO    HIPPISLEY 

will  be  on  our  part  and  not  on  that  of  his  Holiness  :  some  mischief 
has  happened,  and  much  good  has,  I  am  convinced,  been  prevented, 
by  our  unnatural  alienation.  If  the  present  state  of  the  World  has 
not  taught  us  better  things,  our  Errour  is  very  much  our  fault.  This 
good  correspondance  could  not  begin  more  auspiciously  than  in  the 
person  of  the  present  Sovereign  Pontiff,  who  unites  the  Royal  and 
the  sacerdotal  Characters  with  advantage  to  both.  He  is  indeed  a 
Prelate  whose  dignity  as  a  Prince  takes  nothing  from  his  Humility 
as  a  Priest,  and  whose  mild  condescension  as  a  Christian  Bishop, 
far  from  impairing  in  him,  exalts  the  awful  and  imposing  authority 
of  the  secular  Sovereign. 

With  regard  to  Monsignor  Erskine\  I  am  certain  that  all  his 
designs  are  formed  upon  the  most  honorable  and  the  most  benevolent 
publick  principles.  I  have  a  very  high  respect  for  his  Talents  and  his 
Virtues.  It  is  that  respect  which  produces  in  my  mind  very  serious 
doubts,  whether  it  would  be  altogether  prudent  for  him  to  appear  in 
London,  until!  his  presence  is  not  only  suffered,  but  desired,  by  the 
King's  servants.  Without  this  authority,  any  marks  of  attention 
paid  to  him  would  be  only  personal.  It  is  impossible  too,  but  that 
even  these  marks  of  attention  paid  to  him  should  be  the  less  im- 
portant and  the  less  worthy  of  him,  on  account  of  a  publick  character. 
When  that  character  is  owned  it  certainly  adds  to  personal  considera- 
tion :  but  when  it  is  not  recognised,  it  produces  a  contrary  effect, 
and  as  certainly  detracts  something  from  what  would  be  otherwise 
due  to  the  Merits  of  the  Individual.  Monsignor  and  you  will  have 
the  goodness  to  pardon  me  for  offering  my  advice  upon  this  subject. 
Your  Judgment  is  far  superior  to  mine.  I  have  only  the  advantage 
of  being  on  the  spot,  and  consequently  of  knowing  the  mass  of  the 
Country  with  a  little  more  accuracy  than  it  is  possible  for  you  to  do 
at  Rome. 

I  have  now  to  say  a  word  or  two  upon  a  subject  in  your  Letter 
equally  serious.  I  am  sorry,  though  not  at  all  surprized,  that  you 
should  have  received  so  groundless  a  report  of  the  state  of  Ireland 

'  Monsignor  Charles  Erskine  was  sent  by  the  Pope  to  England  with  a  view  to 
the  opening  of  unofficial  communication  with  the  British  Government  according  to 
Hippisley's  suggestions. 


BURKE    TO    HIPPISLEY  65 

as  to  represent  the  Catholics  there  as  in  a  state  of  revolt,  or  of 
some  disposition  towards  it,  so  as  to  make  an  application  to  his 
Holiness  or  to  any  other  person,  abroad  or  at  home,  necessary  or 
even  expedient  towards  bringing  that  great  and  respectable  part  of 
his  Majesty's  subjects  to  a  sense  of  their  Duty  to  their  King  and 
Country.  I  am  satisfied  (indeed  I  know  it)  that  no  descrii^tion  of 
men  in  either  Kingdom  is,  from  affection  and  principles,  more  firmly 
and  faithfully  attached  to  the  King's  person  and  authority  than  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland.  None  but  persons  very  inconsiderate,  or  very 
malevolent,  could  represent  them  in  any  other  light  to  you  or  to  any 
other  person. 

Let  me  add,  that  they  foully  wrong  the  Bishops  and  Clergy  of 
that  Communion   in   Ireland,  who  represent  them  as  wanting  any 
remonstrance  to  stimulate  them  to  their  duty  in  preaching  Loyalty  to 
the  King  and  obedience  to  the  Laws.     I    speak   from   knowledge, 
that  far  from  being  defective  in  that  respect,  perhaps  they  have  gone 
beyond  their  strict  duty,  and  weaken'd  their  influence  by  appearing 
to    be    more    concerned    for    the    support     of     Government    than 
attentive  to  the  sufferings  of  their  people.     Not  one  clergyman  of 
that  persuasion  has  been  convicted,  or  I  believe  so  much  as  suspected, 
of  fomenting    the  late  disturbances,   or  of   being  indifferent  about 
them ;  some  of  them  have  been  grievously  hurt  in  their  persons  and 
in  their  poor  property   from   riotous  outrage ;    and    their   places  of 
worship,  which  the  Laws  had  opened,  have  been,  in  some  parishes, 
shut  up  by  the  Lawless  Multitude.     These  disorders  (greater  un- 
doubtedly than  any  good  man  would  wish  them)  have  been,  and  I 
am  afraid  from  not  always  the  best  Intentions,  much  exaggerated  in 
the  representation.     The  simple  Truth  is,  that  whatever  their  extent 
or  violence  might  have  been,  these  Tumults  had  no  connexion  with 
Religion  or  Politics.     They  had  their  origin  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Militia  in  a  new  form.     This  form  did  in  reality  press  hard  on 
the  poorer  sort  of  people  in  certain  particulars,  and  for  that  reason 
was  considerably  amended  by  Parliament,  which  seldom  fails  sooner 
or  later  to  redress  every  Grievance,  and  to  correct  every  Error  into 
which  by  inadvertance  it  may  fall.     In  part  too  the  discontent  arose, 

B.-W.  C.  Q 


66  BURKE   TO    HIPPISLEY 

as  in  such  cases  is  not  uncommon,  from  a  misconception  of  the 
Intentions  of  the  legislature  in  the  formation  of  that  new  establishment. 
I  remember  very  well  that  in  the  formation  of  a  similar  establish- 
ment in  this  Kingdom  there  were  Tumults  in  many  parts  of  the 
Country,  and  they  were  carried  to  as  great  an  height  as  those  which 
have  lately  disturbed  the  peace  of  Ireland.  When  the  popular  mind 
is  inflamed  upon  any  one  subject  it  is  usual  to  call  to  recollection  and 
to  blend  with  the  original  cause  of  uneasiness  all  other  subjects  of 
disquietude  which  had  rankled  more  silently  in  the  breasts  of  the 
people.  But  these  matters  of  complaint  were  altogether  of  a  Local  and 
oeconomical  Nature.  In  these  the  Peasantry  of  the  Country  thought 
they  had  suffered  some  Grievances.  On  these  complaints  I  am  not 
called  by  any  particular  Duty  to  decide.  The  persons  guilty  of  the 
disorders  which  have  arisen  on  these  grounds  or  pretexts  have  been 
punished.  The  spirit  of  Riot  has  been  got  under.  If  any  real 
Grievance  exists,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  be  redressed  by  the 
same  competent  authority  by  which  the  irregular  mode  of  seeking 
relief  has  been  punished.  The  Catholick  clergy  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  Business,  and  the  less  they  meddle  with  it  the  better.  As 
to  the  Laity  of  that  Communion,  they  who  represent  their  Conduct 
invidiously,  and  thereby  produce  an  officious  interference  from  abroad 
to  quiet  disorders,  the  principle  of  which  is  not  properly  stated,  will 
be  the  very  first  to  employ  the  circumstances  of  that  interference,  of 
which  they  are  the  cause,  as  a  matter  of  new  crimination  against  the 
Catholic  Prelates,  as  introd[uc]ing  the  interposition  of  a  foreign  autho- 
rity in  the  secular  affairs  of  that  Kingdom.  Nothing,  I  am  persuaded, 
is  more  remote  from  the  Intention  of  the  Ministers  of  the  court  of 
Rome.  But  the  Clergy  of  Ireland  ought  to  be  aware  of  the  Machi- 
nations of  subtle  and  designing  politicians,  who  have  more  than 
once  laid  Traps  for  their  simplicity,  into  which  with  inconsiderate 
good  intentions  they  have  fallen  headlong. 

It  is  very  true,  that  the  late  disorders,  as  almost  all  the  disorders 
which  for  fifty  years  I  remember,  have  happened  chiefly  among 
Catholics  ;  and  for  a  very  plain  reason.  They  2X&  popular  Tumults, 
and  of  course,  must  necessarily  happen  amongst  those  who  form  in 


BURKE    TO    HIPPISLEY  67 

the  far  greater  part  of  Ireland  nineteen  in  twenty  of  the  people  of 
the  lowest  class.  This  has  been  produced  by  the  steady  and  uniform, 
but,  in  my  opinion,  most  injudicious  operation  of  the  Laws  and 
policy  of  that  Kingdom  for  near  two  hundred  years  past  just  to  this 
time.  This  circumstance  is  not  generally  known,  and  it  gives  to 
malicious  men  an  opportunity  of  attributing  to  the  religion  what 
belongs  to  the  condition. 

You  have  by  some  correspondent  been  led  into  an  Errour.  You 
are  not  to  blame.  On  the  contrary,  your  zeal,  under  the  impression 
you  have  received,  is  much  to  be  commended.  I  am  quite  certain, 
that  the  same  sentiment  of  patriotism  and  benevolence,  which  led 
you  to  take  the  steps  you  have  taken  under  your  first  impression, 
will  induce  you  to  show  this  Letter  to  the  parties  concerned.  I  hope 
it  also  from  my  confidence  in  your  friendship.  I  hope  at  the  same 
time  you  will  be  pleased  to  give  them  a  cautionary  information  (not 
always  superfluous  to  foreigners),  that  I  speak  with  no  other  authority 
than  may  be  supposed  to  attend  the  opinions  of  a  private  man  of 
some  experience  and  observation ;  and  that  my  Character  of  a 
Member  of  parliament  adds  little  or  nothing  to  the  weight  of  what 
I  say.  It  is  necessary  that  they  should  advert  to  our  constitution. 
Members  of  Parliament,  within  their  walls,  and  acting  in  their  place, 
exercise  (each  his  part  of)  a  public  function  of  the  first  importance  ; 
and  therefore  usually  obtain  an  high  degree  of  respect  to  their  persons 
and  character  ;  But,  what  is  not  perhaps  so  generally  known  abroad, 
these  are  functions  of  a  nature  peculiar  to  our  constitution,  and  do 
not  resemble  foreign  official  powers.  Considered  as  effective  voices  in 
any  matter  of  State,  they  are  nothing  more  than  any  other  of  the 
King's  Subjects.  Liable  to  Legal  Responsibility,  the  whole  of  our 
active  government,  without  the  exception  of  any  part  or  province,  is 
in  the  Ministers  of  the  Crown  ;  and  strangers  ought  not  to  look  upon 
anything  as  bearing  the  stamp  of  publick  character  from  any  but  them. 
The  rest  is  only  the  sentiment  of  private  men,  obtaining  more  or  less 
weight  from  the  reasons  they  give  and  the  opinions  entertained  of 
their  prudence. 

I   hope   to  hear  better  tidings   of  your  health.     Will    Burke  is 
perfectly  sensible  of  your  kind  recollection  of  him  and  joins  with 


68  BURKE   TO    HIPPISLEY 

M'"^  B.  and  my  son  in  our  best  wishes  for  M""^  H.  and  Miss  Stuart's 
health  and  happiness. 

I  am  with  sincere  respect  and  regard, 

My  dear  Sir,  y""  most  obedient  and  faithful  humble  ser* 

(signed)         E.    Burke. 


Windham  to  Pitt. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f-  II-) 
Sir, 


II  Oct.,  1793. 


I  believe  the  best  way  of  communicating  the  contents  of 
the  inclosed  letter  from  M^  Hippisley  will  be  to  send  the  letter  itself 
There  is  no  abridgement  of  it,  that  I  can  make,  that  will  save  so  much 
to  your  time  and  trouble,  as  it  may  chance  to  lose  in  the  effect  by  not 
laying  the  subject  so  well  before  you.  The  matter  really  seems  to 
be  important,  and  to  contain  hints  which  it  will  be  wholly  unnecessary 
in  me  to  recommend  to  your  early  consideration.  I  may  take  the 
liberty  of  mentioning  that  M""  Hippisley  is  a  man  of  uncommon 
activity,  of  considerable  address,  of  great  zeal  in  the  service  either  of 
his  friends  or  of  the  Publick,  by  no  means  wanting  in  Judgement,  and 
very  advantageously  circumstanced  for  promoting  such  subjects  as 
his  letter  relates  to.  A  sister  of  M'"^  Hippisleys  is  married  to  a 
Roman  nobleman,  and  several  years  ago  M""  Hippisley  had  formed 
many  acquaintance  at  Rome  during  the  course  of  a  year's  residence 
there.  In  a  private  letter  to  me  he  has  confessed  his  wishes,  that  in 
case  of  any  acknowledgement  made  of  these  friendly  dispositions  in 
the  Pope,  or  any  message  sent,  as  the  foundation  of  future  inter- 
course. He  might  be  made  the  channel  of  communication.  I  simply 
lay  the  fact  before  you,  leaving  it  to  your  discretion  to  act  upon  it,  or 
not,  as  you  shall  see  occasion.  I  most  sincerely  wish,  that  the  views 
which  he  has  opened  may  be  found  capable  of  being  realised  ;  so  as 
not  only  to  procure  to  us  commercial  advantages,  but  to  place  us  in 
the  situation  of  becoming  the  protectors  of  the  Italian  states,  and 


WINDHAM    TO    PITT  69 

(odd  as  the  idea  may  seem)  the  supporters,  within  certain  limits,  of 
the  Papal  power. 

As  the  opportunity  is  presented  to  me,  I  cannot  help  offering  my 
congratulations  on  the  successes  at  Toulon,  as  also  on  the  choice  of 
the  person  about  to  be  sent  out  there  to  conduct'  our  political 
concerns  in  that  very  new  and  critical  situation^  I  really  doubt, 
whether  in  the  compass  of  the  three  Kingdoms  a  person  could  be 
found  so  furnished  at  all  points  with  the  powers  and  properties  neces- 
sary for  that  very  delicate  service.  I  rejoice  accordingly  not  a  little  at 
Sir  G.  E.  having  undertaken  it.  On  the  same  principle,  and  with  the 
same  views,  I  am  perfectly  well  pleased  to  remain  myself  in  the 
situation  in  which  I  have  acted  hitherto,  and  in  which  it  appears  to 
me,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  that  my  support  of  the  same  cause 
is  likely  to  be  most  effectual. 

In  the  affairs  of  our  Armies  in  the  North'  I  wish  I  had  the  same 
congratulations  to  offer*.  From  the  moment  that  I  had  reason  to 
believe  (I  know  not  how  truly)  that  the  plan  of  our  operations  in 
that  quarter  did  not  bring  with  it  the  full  appreciation  of  the  best 
military  judgements  on  the  spot,  I  must  confess  I  was  full  of  alarms. 
I  hope  our  success  at  the  other  end  of  France,  as  well  as  in  the 
Expedition  now  fitting  out,  will  serve  to  cover  and  heal  this  wound  ; 
and  keep  the  publick  opinion  right  upon  the  subject  of  the  war, 
where  its  steadiness  is  most  to  be  doubted,  which  is  the  point  wherein 
a  failure  is  most  to  be  apprehended.  You  have  received  from  Norwich 
probably  an  account  of  a  seditious  paper  which  made  its  appearance 
immediately  on  the  miscarriage  at  Dunkirk,  but  which  drooped  and 
died  away  on  the  news  of  the  success  of  Toulon  :  so  little  true  is  it, 
that  the  progress  of  arms  has  no  influence  on  that  of  opinions. 


'  Interlined  "have  the  conduct  [of]." 

-  Interlined  in  place  of  "  very  new  and  critical  situation,"  "  part  of  the  world." 

'  Interlined  in  place  of  "our  Armies  in  the  North,"  "the  Northern  armies." 

*  Interlined  in  place  of  "  I  had  "  etc.,  "  the  same  cong.  could  be  offered." 


70  riTT    TO   WINDHAM 

Pitt  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  13.) 

HOLLWOOD, 

Sunday,    Oct.   tith,  1793. 

Sir, 

I  received  yesterday  the  favour  of  your  obliging  Letter 
enclosing  several  Papers  from  M''  Hippisley,  the  substance  of  which 
I  had  before  learnt  in  some  Measure,  but  less  fully,  from  the  Lord 
Chancellor.  Allow  me  to  return  you  my  thanks  for  the  Communi- 
cation, and  at  the  same  time  to  beg  your  Permission  to  retain  the 
Papers  for  a  few  days,  in  order  to  examine  them  more  at  Leisure 
than  I  have  yet  been  able  to  do.  I  partake  thoroughly  in  your 
sentiments  both  with  respect  to  Toulon,  and  to  the  Person  with 
whom  the  Political  concerns  arising  out  of  the  Possession  of  that 
place  are  entrusted. 

This  Event  seems  to  me  to  furnish  a  better  Opening  than  would 
have  presented  itself  in  any  other  Way  for  facilitating  the  Restoration 
of  regular  Government  in  France,  and  for  terminating  the  War 
satisfactorily,  perhaps  speedily.  In  Sir  Gilbert  Elliott's  hands,  I  am 
sure  every  Advantage  will  be  improved  to  the  utmost.  I  need  not 
say  how  happy  I  should  have  been  if  your  Concurrence  of  Opinion  on 
the  great  Questions  now  depending  had  led  you  also  to  take  an 
active  share  in  conducting  the  Affairs  of  Government.  At  least 
however  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  from  Experience  how 
much  the  Public  may  benefit  by  your  Exertions  even  in  your  present 
Situation.  The  Check  before  Dunkirk  is  certainly  much  to  be 
regretted.  But  unless  any  Impression  should  be  produced  by  it  at 
home  to  impede  the  Vigor  of  future  Operations,  The  mischief  will 
I  trust  be  little  felt  in  the  general  Scale  of  the  War.  We  expect  in 
a  few  Days  important  Accounts  from  Maubeuge.  Success  in  that 
Quarter  would  in  a  great  measure  relieve  us  from  any  further 
Anxiety  on  the  Side  of  the  Netherlands,  and  lead  to  further  vigorous 
Measures,  either  before  the  end  of  this  Campaign  or  very  early  in  the 
next.      I  have  enquired  about  the  Paper  transmitted  from  Norwich 


PITT   TO    WINDHAM  7 1 

which     I    understand   was    immediately    referred   to   the   Attorney- 
General. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  great  regard,   Sir, 

Your  obedient  and  faithful  Servant 

W.   Pitt. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  2S-) 

[End  of  Oct.,  1793.] 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  do  not  exactly  know,  though  I  think  I  can  partly  guess, 
in  what  manner  the  present  situation  of  things  appears  to  you.  To 
me  it  is  a  subject  of  the  most  serious  anxiety.  I  went  to  Bright- 
helmstone,  thinking  to  pass  from  thence  to  Portsmouth,  and  on, 
thro'  Winchester,  home.  But  the  news  of  the  fresh  defeat'  in  the 
Netherlands  brought  me  hither.  Yesterday  a  sort  of  message  came 
from  Macbride-  announcing  that  this  defeat  has  been  followed  on 
the  part  of  the  Allies  with  a  great  and  decisive  Victory.  I  have  seen 
the  Lieutenant  dispatched  by  Macbride  with  this  News,  which  has 
many  particulars  inducing  one  to  believe  that  it  is  founded.  But  as 
the  account  particularizes  neither  time  nor  place,  I  am  obliged,  how- 
ever reluctantly,  to  suspend  my  entire  reliance  on  its  Truth.  This 
day  will  clear  up  the  matter. 

I  trust  that  the  good  Event  of  this  affair  will  enable  us  {though 
such  an  Event  rarely  disposes  us),  to  a  calm  and  unprejudiced  review 
of  the  whole  plan  of  the  War — which  in  my  opinion  has  been  totally 
wrong — and  that  the  bad  military  plan  has  arisen  from  the  false 
political  principles  on  which  it  is  formed.  If  we  have  succeeded, 
I  must  consider  it  as  a  great  escape.  No  Victory,  however  great, 
can  reconcile  my  mind  to  this  Business  of  Maubeuge ;  no  more  than 
it  could  to  the  affair  of  Dunkirk,  where  indeed  Victory  was  in  a 

^  Raising   of   the    siege    of    Maubeuge,    consequent   upon   Jourdan's   victory   at 
Watignies,  16  Oct.   1793. 

"  Rear  Admiral  John  Macbride,  commanding  in  the  Downs. 


72  BURKE   TO   AVINDHAM 

manner  impossible.  I  feel  no  great  pleasure  in  the  Expedition 
against  Martinico — if  that  should  be,  as  I  greatly  fear  it  is,  finally 
resolved  upon.  All  these,  and  many  more  considerations,  give  me, 
at  times,  more  uneasiness  than  I  am  able  to  express.  But  the  fault 
is  not  wholly  in  our  ministry,  the  whole  body  of  the  Alliance  is 
concerned  in  it.  Kings  can  never  be  brought  to  a  decision,  in  the 
way  they  proceed  in,  by  any  Victory  or  Victories.  However,  I  wish 
you  to  consider  these  Hints  of  mine  as  for  your  own  breast  :  into 
which  I  wish  more  fully  to  unbosom  mine — praying  to  God  that  no 
hasty  word  from  you  or  me  may  give  an  advantage  to  the  Jacobin 
Enemy  here.  If  we  criticize,  let  us  criticise  to  amend,  to  help,  to 
supply — even  possibly  to  encourage.  But  let  us  strengthen  the 
principles  we  support,  and  give  no  advantage  to  those  who  find  fault 
with  conduct,  because  they  are  utterly  irreconcileable  to  principles. 
Our  principles  are  Antijacobin.  We  cannot  be  neuter.  We  are  on 
the  Stage ;  and  cannot  occasionally  jump  into  the  Pitt  or  Boxes  to 
make  observations  on  our  brother  Actors.  Such  are  those,  at  home 
or  abroad,  who  abhor  Jacobinism  as  we  do,  and  who  act  against  it, 
bona  fide,  though  with  a  thousand  Errours.  I  have  written  some- 
thing to  the  Ministers,  and  I  have  twice  seen  them,  and  spoken  my 
sentiments  very  freely  and  very  fully.  I  think  we  do  not  disagree 
in  any  principle  nor  in  any  Measure  ;  but  in  the  time  and  the  order 
in  which  Measures  are  to  be  taken  and  pursued,  to  be  sure  we  differ 
— and  this  I  take  to  be  a  very  important  part  of  the  consideration. 
Here  I  am  without  any  assistance,  out  of  my  own  walls,  to  correct  or 
to  advise  me,  or  to  co-operate  with  me.  In  the  world  as  well  as  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  no  motion  is  received  that  is  not  seconded.  I  do 
most  earnestly  wish  to  see  you.  Clouds  lower  all  over  the  Horizon 
which  alarm,  but  do  not  dispirit  me  if  you  keep  up  your  Vigour.  Heu 
quianam  tanti  cinxerunt  aethera  nimbi ! — quidve  pater  Neptune 
paras' ? 

Do  not  you  think  the  new  act  of  Regicide  the  smallest  part  of  the 
wickedness  ?  Oh  !  God  !  the  charge  !  and  the  last  article  particularly. 
All  this  is  but  the  unfolding  of  the  Germ  of  Jacobinism.  For  God's 
sake  come  to  town.     Again  and  again  I  want  consolation  and  assist- 

'  Virgil,  Aen.  v.   13. 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  73 

ance.      You  cannot  withdraw  yourself  from  the  World  now,  in  the 
Vigour  of  your  Age  and  faculties,  without  a  Crime. 

I  hear  nothing  to  confirm  the  News.  But  there  have  been  three 
actions  at  La  Vendee.  The  Royalists  failed  in  one,  Noirmoutier, 
but  succeeded  in  three  others,  all  very  important. 

I  am  ever,  my  d""  Sir,  with  true  regard,  y''^  etc. 

Edm.  Burke. 


Windham   to   Burke\ 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   179.) 

Felbrigg, 

Nov.   I,   1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

The  desire  of  obeying  your  summons  might  be  motive 
sufficient  to  carry  me  to  town,  without  allowing  the  reason  which  you 
assign,  if  I  could  be  sure  that  the  meeting  of  parliament  would  be 
delayed  long  enough  to  admit  of  my  coming  back  again.  Till  it 
shall  be  determined  that  parliament  is  not  to  meet  till  after  Christmas, 
I  could  wish  to  defer  a  little  my  going  to  London,  that  I  may  not 
begin  my  winter  residence  sooner  than  is  necessary.  To  go  to  town 
from  this  distance,  without  a  long  period  before  one,  must  be  going 
for  good. 

I  fear  that  good  in  that  sense,  is  the  only  good  that  would  attend 
my  going  at  present.  I  have  no  counsels  to  offer  but  what  I  must 
learn  from  you  ;  nor  any  means  of  enforcing  them,  but  what  they 
must  have  already  from  your  authority.  Authority,  probably,  of  any 
sort,  can  now  do  but  little.  What  remains  of  the  campaign,  and  of 
the  fate  of  the  armies,  must  be  determined  probably  by  the  events, 
for  the  result  of  which  I  am  waiting  with  the  most  anxious  expecta- 
tion. In  a  letter  which  I  had  from  Brussels  of  the  21^*  great  anxiety 
was  expressed  for  the  army  of  the  Prince  of  Coburgh  ;  and  what 
was  worse,  the  same  was  said  to  be  felt  in  the  army  itself. 

I   have  not  the  least  doubt  of  what  is  right  to  be  done  by  us  ; 
namely  to  maintain  the  war,   in  and  out  of  parliament,   by  every 
^  The  rough  draft,  37843,  flF.  27 — 28,  differs  slightly  from  the  letter  actually  sent. 

B.-w.  c.  10 


74  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

possible  means.  But  I  tremble  to  think,  should  disasters  increase, 
how  long  this  may  be  in  our  power.  Toulon  and  Weissenburgh,  if 
they  keep  to  their  mark,  will,  it  may  be  hoped,  preserve  the  balance 
for  this  year. 

The  murder  of  the  queen  of  France  is  an  event  that  appears 
more  shocking  (I  know  not  certainly  for  what  reason)  than  even 
that  of  the  king.  The  length  of  her  sufferings,  though  urged  com- 
monly with  a  contrary  view,  makes  one  less  endure  that  they  should 
terminate  at  last  in  death.  One  hoped  for  some  period  in  reserve, 
that  might  have  softened  the  memory  of  her  past  woes,  and  brought 
some  retribution  of  happiness  in  this  life  ;  a  little  longer  respite  and 
relief,  one  hoped,  might  have  reached  her.  All  is  now  extinct!  An 
act  of  such  savage  and  unrelenting  cruelty, — of  such  black  and 
unprovoked  guilt, — I  suppose  is  hardly  to  be  paralleled  ;  as  a  case 
can  hardly  be  found  of  life  ended  in  circumstances  so  dreadful,  so 
destitute  of  all  external  support,  so  beset  with  every  thing  to  embitter 
and  sharpen  the  last  agony.  All  that  the  imagination  pictures  of 
death  had  been  hers  for  long  past ; — seclusion,  silence,  solitude, 
ignorance  of  all  that  was  passing,  separation  from  all  the  visible 
world.  Her  pursuers  seem,  beforehand,  to  have  plunged  her  into 
the  tomb,  that  its  horrors  might  have  time  to  sink  into  her  mind,— 
might  pervade  and  occupy  every  region  of  the  soul.  It  was  won- 
derful how  her  courage  was  able  to  sustain  so  long  a  conflict ;  or 
how,  in  fact,  she  contrived  to  preserve  her  senses.  It  is  a  strong 
proof  of  the  vigour  of  her  mind,  and  a  presumption  highly  favourable 
to  the  virtuousness  of  her  character.  She  seems  to  have  retained 
her  dignity  and  firmness  to  the  last ;  to  have  been  wanting  in  nothing 
that  the  occasion  required  ;  to  have  sustained,  throughout,  the  part 
she  was  to  act,  worthily  of  herself,  and  of  those  whom  she  repre- 
sented. The  asserters  of  monarchy,  as  opposed  to  modern  doctrines, 
need  wish  for  nothing  better  than  such  a  contrast  as  is  formed  by 
the  conduct  of  the  king  and  queen,  compared  with  that  of  their 
destroyers. 

In  this  solitary  place,  I  have  little  communication  with  the  world, 
except  occasionally  by  letters,  and  know  but  little  therefore  of  the 
language  generally  talked.      In  fact,  in  matters  of  this  sort,  people 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  75 

seldom  talk  any  language  but  what  they  are  taught  ;  and  therefore 
till  they  assemble  in  town,  or  parliament  sets  them  a-going,  they 
have  no  very  decided  opinions.  To  me,  the  necessity  for  the  war 
seems  so  impossible  not  to  be  seen  by  the  commonest  understanding, 
the  motives  for  persevering  in  it  to  be  so  powerful,  that  I  cannot  but 
think  it  must  be  the  fault  of  those  who  should  direct  the  public  mind, 
if  the  clamours  against  the  war  gain  any  great  ground.  The  artifice 
of  those  who  wish  to  conceal  and  give  effect  to  their  wishes  in  favour 
of  the  French  system,  under  a  pretended  horror  of  war,  is  surely  so 
easily  seen  through,  that  it  can  never  produce  much  effect.  Our  first 
debates  in  Parliament  must  be  directed,  I  think,  to  strip  the  mask 
from  this  miserable  hypocrisy; — it  surely  cannot  be  a  difficult  task. 

I  shall  at  all  events  come  to  town  before  Christmas.     If  parlia- 
ment does  not  meet,  I  shall  be  desirous  of  coming  very  speedily. 

Ever,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  with  the  greatest  truth 

W.  Windham. 


Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-   29-) 

Beconsfield, 
Nov.   4,   1793,  an  ara  yei'. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  wrote  to  you  when  I  was  last  in  town,  wishing,  if 
possible,  to  have  some  conversation  with  you  on  the  present  un- 
pleasant state  of  the  affairs  of  mankind.  I  must  conclude  that  some 
accident  prevented  my  letter  from  coming  to  your  hands — else  I 
cannot  guess  on  what  account  I  was  not  favoured  with  an  answer. 
Since  then  things  look  something  so  very  like  desperate  about  the 
sole  affair,  I  have  much  at  heart,  that  I  do  not  now  wish  to  trouble 
you  to  come  up  if  some  other  affair  does  not  bring  you  this  way.  O  ! 
poor  Poitou  !  Tho'  I  am  overwhelmed  by  these  Calamities,  I  am  not 
'  I.e.  not  yet  superseded,  in  England,  by  the  Republican  calendar. 


76  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

overpower'd  ;  and  am  ready  for  any  good  word  or  work.  I  suppose 
you  have  read  with  some  attention  the  proceedings  against  the  late 
Queen  of  France.  Adieu,  my  dear  Sir, — give  me  the  consolation  of 
hearing  from  you,  and  believe  me  ever  very  faithfully  and  aff'^y  yrs. 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   177.) 

[Afiou(  5  Nov}  1793-] 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  can  say  nothing  certain  about  the  meeting  of  parlia- 
ment ;  but  if  I  were  to  judge  from  the  prorogation,  which  carries  us 
to  the  fifth,  I  think,  of  December,  without  stating  that  we  were  then 
to  meet  for  the  dispatch  of  business,  I  should  conclude  we  were  not 
to  meet  before  the  holidays. 

You  see  by  my  last  that  I  am  not  now  so  eager  about  your 
coming  to  town  as  I  was  when  I  wrote  before.  I  have  nothing  very 
distinct  to  propose  to  you.  I  confess  it  would  be  a  matter  of  support 
and  consolation  to  me  that  you  should  be  in  London  ;  and  that  I 
might  converse  with  you  on  the  ideas  which,  from  time  to  time,  float 
in  my  mind  on  the  present  very  critical  state  of  public  affairs.  I 
find  that  all  the  demands  of  duty  and  all  the  feelings  of  resentment 
and  indignation  that  agitate  me  are  no  more  than  necessary  to  keep 
my  mind  from  sinking  into  a  state  of  despondency.  I  do  not  easily 
persuade  myself,  when  I  am  stimulated  out  of  that  temper,  that  I 
ought  to  wait  for  what  I  can  do  in  my  place  in  parliament,  when 
everything  is  gone  by,  and  we  are  left  only  to  praise  or  blame,  to 
defend  or  to  extenuate,  as  long  as  there  is  a  possibility  that  a  hint 
thrown  in  at  a  proper  time  may  give  such  a  direction  to  affairs  as  we 
could  wish.  It  is  for  that  reason  I  think  we  ought  to  be  on  as 
amicable  terms  with  those  who  conduct  them  as  we  can,  in  order  to 
keep  the  communication  for  our  sentiments  open  ;  and  that  when  we 
suggest  anything  which  at  first  may  not  be  in  agreement  with  their 
plans,  it  may  appear  as  the  admonition  of  a  friend,  rather  than  the 
reproach  of  an  adversary. 

'  Dated  in  the  Correspondence  October,  but  evidently  between  4  and  7  November. 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  77 

I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  correspond  with  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot, 
because  I  do  not  know  that  he  at  all  desires  that  I  should  do  so'.  I 
am  very  much  afraid  that  he  fell  immediately  into  the  hands  of  the 
intriguers.  This  I  am  sure  of,  that  I  was  not  at  all  in  his  confidence, 
or  in  that  of  the  ministers,  in  any  thing  relating  to  his  mission  ; 
though  I  spent  a  day  with  them  and  him,  when  we  talked  over, 
much  at  large,  the  affairs  of  France  and  Europe,  on  the  general 
principles  of  which  we  had  no  very  material  difference.  The  having, 
or  not  having,  confidence,  is  a  matter  of  fact.  I  shall  converse  with 
you  on  these  circumstances,  which  you  may  easily  believe  are  not 
very  pleasant  to  me,  when  we  meet. 


Windham   to   Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   189.) 


Felbrigg, 

Nov.   7,   1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

You  will  have  received,  before  this,  my  answer  to  your 
letter,  and  find  that  I  am  ready  to  come  whenever  my  presence 
shall  be  necessary  or  useful.  Though  you  give  me,  for  the  present, 
a  dispensation,  I  am  half  inclined  not  to  make  use  of  it,  but  to  yield 
to  the  wish  of  being  for  a  while  nearer  the  centre  of  counsel  and 
intelligence.  Your  letter  is  written  in  a  tone  of  dejection  that  makes 
me  apprehend  something  worse  than  has  yet  reached  me,  or  suspect 
that  I  have  seen  our  situation  more  favourably  than  I  ought.  The 
worst  news  is  undoubtedly  from  La  Vendee  ;  yet  unless  you  have 
further  accounts,  confirming  those  of  the  convention,  I  cannot 
abandon  my  hopes  upon  the  strength  merely  of  what  they  say. 
Besides  the  allowance  to  be  made  for  exaggeration,  and  often  for 
total  fabrication,  the  war  of  La  Vendue  does  not  seem  to  be  of  a 
sort  which  temporary  ill  success  will  eradicate.     One  may  hope  that 

^  The  precise  occasion  on  which  this  new  feehng  of  distrust  had  arisen  does  not 
appear,  but  the  real  ground  for  it  was  doubtless  in  Elliot's  acceptance  of  Pitt's  policy 
of  supporting  the  adherents  of  the  constitution  of  1789,  while  Burke  would  hear  of 
nothing  but  an  unconditional  restoration  of  the  monarchy. 


78  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

the  whole  of  that  country  is  so  thoroughly  impregnated  with  hatred 
and  horror  of  the  present  system,  for  which  new  reasons,  too,  are 
arising  every  day,  that  they  never  can  do  more  than  stop  its  effects 
for  the  moment,  and  that  the  first  opportunity  will  call  them  out 
again  with  their  original  vigour. 

In  all  other  quarters  our  affairs  seem  to  be  going  on  with  reason- 
able success.  No  fears,  I  hope,  are  entertained,  at  least  no  new  or 
special  ones,  of  our  being  forced  from  our  hold  on  Toulon.  The 
progress  of  the  northern  armies  must,  of  necessity,  be  slow  ;  they 
are  there  riving  the  block  at  the  knotty  end.  But  I  cannot  but  hope 
that  at  the  southern  extremity  the  work  will  go  on  quicker,  and  that 
a  rent  may  be  made  by  our  operations  there  that  will  reach  far  into 
France. 

What  is  your  opinion  of  the  declaration'  ?  I  think,  in  one 
passage,  they  are  yielding  too  much  to  the  adversary,  and  by  seeming 
to  give  up  part  of  the  question,  making  the  defence  of  the  remainder 
more  difficult.  Why  is  all  right  of  interference  in  the  affairs  of 
another  country,  even  without  the  plea  of  aggression  on  the  part  of 
that  country,  to  be  universally  given  up  ?  The  more  I  have  thought 
upon  that  opinion,  the  more  satisfied  1  have  been,  that  it  is  a  mere 
arbitrary  assumption  wholly  unsupported  by  anything  in  reason  and 
nature,  and  in  direct  repugnance  to  everything  which  the  maintainers 
of  that  doctrine  would  be  compelled,  and  even  ready,  to  allow.  In 
other  respects  it  seems  to  be  judicious,  and  it  is  certainly  well  drawn, 
and  I  should  hope  would  produce  the  best  effects ;  particularly  if,  as 
I  see  in  the  papers  just  received,  the  Austrians  have  taken  possession 
of  Alsace  in  the  name  of  Louis  XVII. 

The  poor  departed  queen !  How  cheering  would  such  intelli- 
gence have  been  to  her !  How  much  does  one  wish  that  she  might 
have  lived  to  see  herself  and  her  son  restored  in  part  to  their  former 
situation  ;  or  rescued  at  least  from  the  fangs  of  these  hell-hounds ! 
How  painful  is  the  reflection,  that  whatever  good  may  now  befal,  she 
no  longer  remains  to  enjoy  it ! 

From  the  delay  occasioned  at  Ostend,  the  West  India  expedition 

'  By  the  British  Government,  on  the  objects  of  the  war,  29  Oct.  1793.     It  will  be 
found,  among  other  places,  in  the  Parliamentary  History  for  1794- 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  79 

is,  I  suppose,  laid  aside.  The  opinion  which  you  seem  to  have  of  it 
has  taught  me  not  to  regret  its  loss.  The  fever,  too,  that  rages  so 
dreadfully  in  some  of  the  islands,  might  itself  have  been  a  reason,  I 
should  conceive,  for  not  persisting  in  it. 

M''^  Burke,  I  hope,  and  all  your  family  are  well.  Let  me  beg  you 
to  present  my  best  respects,  and  to  believe  me. 

Dear  sir,   Ever  most  truly  yours 

W.  Windham. 

The  system  of  atheism  will  now,  I  think,  not  be  denied.  What 
say  the  religious  dissenters  to  this  .''  The  worthy  bishop  who  believes 
that  the  God  of  nature  and  liberty  needs  no  intermediary,  will 
perhaps  reconcile  them.  They  are  perfectly  satisfied  that  there 
should  be  no  religion,   provided  there  is  no  establishment. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  3I-) 

{About  8  Nov.,  1793.] 
My  Dear  Sir, 

I  received  your  second  very  kind  and  very  satisfactory 

letter,  just  as  I  was  going  to  thank  you  for  your  first. 

I  do  confess,  that  I  feel  myself  gradually  sinking  into  something 

like  despondency.      It  is  not  from  the  events  of  War,  which,  as  one 

might  expect,   have   been   chequer'd.     A   little    security  towards    a 

defensive  is   promised  to   us    in    the    Netherlands.      The    affair   of 

Weissenburg'  seems    to    me    one    of  the    finest   things   in   military 

History.      I  can  scarcely,  as  an  operation  of  War,  imagine  anything 

beyond    it.       But   it    is   not  from   our  defeats,    that  my   hopes  are 

damped,   but   from   our  successes.      If  we    had    been    only   beaten, 

better  conduct  and  greater  force,    with  our  share  of  the  Chances, 

might  set  us  right  again.      But  I  see  nothing  w''^  all  the  successes 

we   have  had,   and   much  greater  than   I  dare  to  look  for,  can  do 

towards  bringing  things  to  the  conclusion  we  wish,  as  long  as  the 

plan   we  have  pursued,  and  still  pursue,   is  persevered  in.     When 

^  Captured  by  Wurmser,   15  Oct.   1793. 


8o  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  we  will  talk  over  this  matter 
in  the  Detail. 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  proclamation  is  well  drawn  ;  perhaps 
too  well  drawn,  as  it  shews  too  much  art.  I  admit  that  it  seems, 
more  than  anything  else  that  has  yet  appeared,  to  depart  from  the 
unfortunate  plan  of  making  war  against  France,  and  to  direct  it  where 
it  ought  to  be  directed,  to  the  relief  of  the  oppressed,  and  to  the 
destruction  of  Jacobinism.  I  wish  however  that  nothing  had  been 
said  about  indemnity.  It  is  a  thing  unheard  of  in  this  stage  of  a 
war ;  and  as  in  fact  we  have  no  pledge  whatever  in  our  hands  but 
Toulon,  it  looks  as  if  we  meant  to  keep  that  place,  and  the  ships  in 
the  harbour,  for  that  indemnity,  though  surrendered  to  our  faith 
upon  very  different  Terms.  This  previous  demand  of  indemnity, 
which  has  a  sort  of  appearance  (even  so  much  as  perhaps  to  hazard 
the  whole  effect  of  the  Declaration),  of  Fairness,  is  yet  so  very  loose 
and  general  that  I  scarce  know  what  it  is  that  we  and  the  allied 
Courts  may  not  claim  under  it.  The  worst  of  the  matter  is,  that 
the  only  object  which  we  have  hitherto  pursued,  is  the  previous 
security  of  this  indemnification. 

The  thing  however  that  perfectly  sickens  me  in  this  Declaration 
is  its  total  disagreement  with  everything  we  have  done  or  (so  far  as 
I  see)  that  we  are  going  to  town\  We  promise  protection  and 
assistance  to  those  who  shall  endeavour  the  Restoration  of  Monarchy 
in  that  country  ;  yet,  though  Poitou  is  in  a  manner  at  our  door,  and 
they  have  for  eight  months  carried  on  a  War  on  the  principles 
we  have  pointed  out — not  a  man,  not  a  ship,  not  an  article  of  stores 
have  been  yet  sent  to  these  brave  unfortunate  people  ;  all  the  force 
we  can  spare  was  destined  for  our  indemnity;  and  when  now  released, 
I  do  not  know  with  what  prudence,  from  the  Flemish  service,  it  is 
intended  again  to  go  [to]  the  West  Indies.  No  talk,  nor  no  thought 
of  giving  the  least  of  the  succour  we  stand  engaged  for,  and  which 
common  justice  and  common  policy  ought  to  have  induced  us  to 
send,  though  we  were  under  no  positive  engagement  at  all.  This, 
joined  with  our  refusing  to  recognise  that  Monarchy  in  those  who 
have    a    right    to   exercise    its    authority,    is    a    defeasance    to    our 

'    SIC. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  8l 

Declaration  which  nothing  but  a  total  Change  of  conduct  can  cancell. 
However,  though  I  am  grieved  beyond  measure  and  mortified  at 
this  proceeding,  our  only  hopes  are  from  these  people.  The  conduct 
of  our  late  party  is  so  absurd,  contradictory  and  self  destructive,  that 
I  cannot  easily  express  it.  But  on  all  these  matters  we  shall  talk 
seriously  when  we  meet,  which  I  trust  will  be  soon.  Oh  !  what  you 
say  of  the  Queen  in  your  two  letters  is  like  what  I  should  expect 
from  your  feelings  on  that  the  most  dreadful  scene  that  ever  was 
exhibited  to  the  world  !  Stupified  as  I  was  at  the  enormous  wicked- 
ness of  the  actors,  as  well  as  at  the  nature  of  it,  which  was  worse, 
in  my  opinion,  than  its  magnitude,  and  astonished  at  the  sustain'd 
fortitude  and  patience  of  the  sufferer,  yet  my  indignation  at  the 
unfeeling  manner  in  which  it  has  been  received  by  the  Princes 
of  her  own  House,  has  perhaps  been  the  strongest  of  my  Emotions 
on  this  occasion.  The  wicked  faction  at  Paris  have  [not]  obtained 
the  only  end  they  could  have  proposed  to  themselves  by  this  savage 
proceeding,  the  rendering  vile  and  contemptible  the  Royal  Character. 
The  execution  of  a  King  or  Queen  by  the  hands  of  the  common 
hangman,  as  the  lowest  and  vilest  of  criminals,  will  produce  no  more 
effect  than  one  of  the  periodical  hangings  of  the  Old  Baily.  I  am 
quite  of  your  mind  that  there  is  something  that  mingles  more  of 
disgust  and  of  compassion  with  our  horrour  in  this  Barbarity,  even 
more  than  in  the  murder  of  the  King.  In  fact  women,  and  such 
women,  are  more  out  of  the  Field  in  such  contentions  as  brought 
on  these  Events — and  the  circumstances  themselves  were  much 
worse.  Sure  some  Justice  ought  to  be  done  to  a  Character  which 
does  so  much  more  than  Justice  to  the  nature  we  belong  to. 

Hippisley  is  perfecdy  right  in  the  principle  of  what  he  is  doing. 
But  he  ought  not  to  have  acted  without  authority.  The  thing,  by 
being  new,  if  for  no  other  Reason,  and  in  direct  defiance  of  the 
whole  Train  of  our  Statutes,  required  great  management,  and 
Monsignor  Erskine  ought  not  to  come  without  previous  arrange- 
ment with  this  Court,  even  if  this  had  not  been  a  thing  wholly  out 
of  the  ordinary  Course.  This  additional  Erskine  (resembling  very 
much  the  rest)  is  addressed  to  the  Calvinists,  Catholicks,  Democrates, 
friends    of  the   people.  Cisalpine   Clubbs,  &c.     The   Pope's   nuncio 

B.-W.  C.  11 


82  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

addressed  to  a  furious  Antipapal  party — and  his  nuncio  to  the  K.  of 
England  addressed  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Club  of  the  Friends  of 
the  People  ! ! ! 

I  am  ever  with  the  truest  affection  and  most  sincere  respect, 

Y'  faithful  friend  and  humble  ser'' 

Edm.  Burke. 


Earl  Spencer  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.   II9-) 

Wilderness, 

Nov.  II,   1793. 
Dear   Windham, 

Though  I  cannot  say  that  the  general  result  of  what  I 
am  going  to  communicate  to  you  is  of  any  very  considerable  im- 
portance, yet  on  the  terms  of  perfect  confidence  with  which  you  have 
done  me  the  Honour  to  treat  me,  and  on  which  I  hope  nothing  will 
ever  prevent  our  continuing,  I  think  it  indispensably  necessary  to 
acquaint  you  that  having  come  here  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Bayham'  for 
a  night,  I  met  Pitt.  This  meeting  was  not  purely  accidental,  but 
L*^  Bayham,  who  saw  me  in  town  at  Lord  Lucan's  on  Thursday, 
asked  me  to  come,  and  told  me  that  Pitt  was  very  desirous  of  having 
an  interview  with  me,  which  he  thought  might  be  brought  about  more 
agreably  to  me  in  this  mode  than  any  other.  I  determined  to 
accept  of  the  invitation,  thinking  that  it  might  possibly  be  productive 
of  some  good,  and  could  not  of  any  Harm,  and  at  all  events  would 
probably  afford  us  some  information  on  the  present  state  of  affairs. 
I  confess  that  the  Result  of  it  has  not  in  this  last  point  done  a  great 
deal,  and  on  either  of  the  former  considerations  it  seems  to  have 
been  as  nearly  as  possible  indifferent ;  it  has  however  given  me  the 
opportunity  of  repeating  to  him  what  you  had  already  expressed  for 
me,  and  of  finding  that  for  the  present,  with  respect  to  any  internal 
arrangements,   matters  remain  I   think  much  as  your  conversation 

'  Afterwards  2nd  Earl  Camden. 


SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM  83 

with  him  at  the  end  of  the  last  Session  left  them,  that  is  to  say,  still 
open,  but  not  ripe  for  any  decisive  Step.  He  began  by  saying  that 
he  was  desirous  of  having  this  conversation  with  me  in  order  to 
explain  anything  relating  to  the  events  of  the  last  Summer  that  might 
have  left  a  wish  for  explanation  on  my  Mind,  and  to  give  me  any 
confidential  information  I  might  desire  to  have,  and  he  might  be 
able  to  give,  respecting  any  such  events  and  the  general  state  of 
affairs.  He  then  seemed  to  expect  me  to  point  out  the  particular 
objects  on  which  I  wished  the  conversation  to  turn  ;  and  I  own  I  felt 
very  awkwardly  at  the  moment,  owing  rather  to  the  finding  myself 
all  at  once  in  so  very  new  a  Situation  to  me,  and  I  believe  in 
consequence  of  this  I  did  not  explain  myself  at  first  so  clearly  and 
intelligibly  as  I  could  have  wished.  From  this  circumstance  also  it 
probably  arises  that  I  am  not  able  to  give  a  very  exact  detail  of  what 
passed  between  us  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  general  sub- 
stance however  I  think  was,  that  the  idea  of  taking  Dunkirk  formed 
originally  a  part  of  the  general  Plan  of  the  Campaign,  in  which  it  was 
hoped  we  might  have  got  into  possession  of  that  Port  (stated  by  him 
to  be  a  considerable  object  as  being  a  Port,  and,  from  the  nearness 
of  its  Situation  to  us,  being  more  likely  to  give  a  favorable  impression 
of  the  War  in  this  Country),  of  a  strong  line  of  Frontier  from  thence 
all  the  way  to  Maubeuge  inclusively,  and  even  of  having  formed 
something  like  a  winter  investment  of  Lisle.  I  collect  from  what  he 
said  that  it  had  been  agreed  that  the  Austrian  Artillery  should  have 
co-operated  in  the  siege  of  Dunkirk,  but  as  they  insisted  on  conduct- 
ing that  of  Quesnay  at  the  same  time,  it  became  necessary  for  our 
Army  there  to  be  supplied  from  hence ;  and  a  Requisition  was 
accordingly  sent,  and  answered  in  such  a  manner  that  he  speaks 
with  great  confidence  of  being  able  by  a  mere  statement  of  dates 
to  satisfy  us  that  every  exertion  that  could  be  made  was  made ;  as 
to  the  want  of  Gun-boats,  the  fact  is  that  they  had  no  idea  that  they 
would  be  wanted,  till  a  requisition  was  sent  for  them  from  the  Army 
actually  before  Dtmkirk,  and  then  of  course  they  could  not  come  in 
time.  All  this,  you  see,  in  reality  amounts  to  little  more  than  saying 
Dunkirk  was  attacked  with  an  inadequate  force,  and  of  course  that 
all  that  we  lost  both  in  time,  in  stores,  in  expenses,  in  men  and  in 


84  SPENCER   TO   WINDHAM 

reputation  by  it  was  absolutely  en  pure  perte.     I  dwelt  a  good  deal 
(after  I   had   recovered   my  nerves  a  little)  and  repeatedly,  in  the 
course  of  our  conversation,  on  the  expediency,  if  it  could  possibly  be 
done,  of  making  some  satisfactory  explanation  at  the  opening  of  the 
Session  upon  these  points,  as  they  are  likely  to  have  taken  some 
hold  on  the  publick  mind,  and  to  have  given  strength  to  opposition 
in  general  ;  he  did  not  say  anything  directly  to  this,  but  I  think  it 
did  not  pass  without  exciting  his  Attention.     He  seems  in  general  to 
look  on  the  French  as  being  at  present  in  a  Situation  less  likely  to 
dispose  them  to   yield    than    they  were    some    months   ago,   owing 
partly  to  the  Surrender  of  Lyons,  and  partly  to  their  successes  in 
La  Vendue,   which   he   apprehends   to  be  more  decisive  than  they 
have  ever  been  yet,  though  he  did  not  seem  to  state  any  very  clear 
Intelligence  having  been  received  about  them.     The  ships  that  were 
sent  away  from  Toulon  to  the  other  Sea-Ports,  which  was  a  Measure 
that  has  excited  some  Curiosity  and  no  inconsiderable  Surprize  with 
many  People,  were  sent  by  Lord    Hood  on  his  own  authority,  in 
order  to  remove  about  5000  Seamen  from  the  Place,  who  were  very 
ill  affected  and  who  might  have  been  capable  of  doing  much  Mischief, 
more  particularly  before  they  were  so  much  reinforced  there  as  they 
have  since  been.      I  think  this  is  really  the  substance  of  what  passed 
with   respect   to  past   Transactions.      With    respect    to    the  future, 
I  found  him  fully  determined  on  the  most  vigorous  exertions  in  the 
Prosecution  of  the  War,  in  which  he  seems  to  expect  a  very  cordial 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  Austrians  ;  on  that  of  the  Prussians 
he  is  not  so  sanguine,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  he  should  not 
be  much   surprized   if  they  were  to  withdraw  altogether  from    the 
Confederacy  ;   the  other   Powers   will  act   as  they  are  paid.     (The 
Dutch,  I  think,  we  omitted  to  speak  of.)     He  seems  much  inclined 
to  the  Opinion  that  there  will  be  little  hope  of  putting  an  end  to 
the  War  without  penetrating  pretty  far  into  the  Interior  of  France, 
and  in  order  to  that,   it    should  seem    that  we    must   possess    our- 
selves   of    all    the    frontier  strong    Places    (even    including    Lisle), 
before  we  can  advance  with  any  security  ;  the  ostensible  Object  of 
the  War  is   I  suppose    to    be   consonant  to  the   Language    of  the 
Declaration,  namely  such  a  Government   in   France  as  the  rest  of 


SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM  85 

Europe  may  reasonably  depend  upon  for  its  future  Peace  and 
Security,  hinting  to  them  at  the  same  time  that  a  Monarchy  of 
some  kind  or  other  at  least  is  the  most  likely  to  attain  those  ends. 
On  the  Article  of  Expence  he  talked  very  openly,  and  said  that  he 
should  want  at  least  1 2  millions  for  the  Supply  of  the  Year  (I  suppose 
of  course  the  extra  Supply  for  the  War),  but  from  the  situation  of  the 
Finances  he  hoped  to  be  only  obliged  to  lay  absolutely  new  Taxes 
to  the  amount  of  from  three  to  400,000,  and  he  hopes  to  lay  them  in 
a  manner  that  shall  not  be  much  felt.  He  asked  me  whether  I 
happened  to  know  anything  of  the  D.  of  Portland's  present  Senti- 
ments, I  said  I  had  heard  that  he  was  still  disposed  to  support  the 
War ;  in  the  course  of  this  part  of  the  Conversation,  as  he  happened 
to  mention  your  Name,  I  thought  it  not  a  bad  opportunity  to  find  out 
whether  he  had  still  any  views  similar  to  what  he  talked  of  with  you 
last  summer  on  the  subject  of  political  arrangements,  so  I  said  that 
you  had  according  to  his  desire,  as  I  believed,  communicated  to  me 
at  that  time  the  substance  of  what  had  passed  between  you,  and  that 
I  also  believed  you  had  expressed  to  him  our  joint  opinion,  that  we 
thought  upon  the  whole  that  an  unconnected  Support  of  Government 
would  then  have  more  weight  and  efficacy,  than  if  we  were  to  take  a 
share  in  any  part  of  the  administration ;  I  added  that  my  opinion  still 
continued  on  that  subject  pretty  much  the  same,  and  that  instead  of 
having  seen  anything  to  alter  it  since,  I  found  it  rather  confirmed  by 
circumstances  that  had  happened.  He  answered  that  he  was  very 
glad  I  had  mentioned  the  subject,  as  it  would  give  him  an  opportunity 
of  saying  a  word  or  two  upon  it ;  though  he  should  not  have  men- 
tioned it  first  himself,  because  at  the  present  moment  there  was  no 
opening  that  would  enable  him  to  make  any  proposal  of  the  kind  ;  he 
however  hoped  that  I  should  still  allow  the  matter  to  remain  open, 
and  in  case  any  occasion  offered,  such  as  to  put  it  in  his  power  to 
make  any  such  proposal,  that  he  might  have  my  leave  to  communi- 
cate again  with  us  upon  the  subject.  This  is  as  near  as  I  can 
recollect  the  substance  of  what  passed  between  us  in  private  ;  on 
this  latter  part  of  our  conversation  I  particularly  noticed  that  he 
treated  the  Idea  of  a  possibility  of  our  coming  into  Office  only  on 
the  Supposition  of  our  doing  it  jointly,  and  I  took  the  more  particular 


86  SPENCER   TO   WINDHAM 

Notice  of  this,  because  in  the  conversation  that  I  had  at  L**  Lucan's 
with  L''  Bayham,  which  gave  rise  to  this  meeting,  he  had  thrown  out 
something  Hke  a  Hint,  which  at  the  same  time  he  assured  me  he  was 
not  commissioned  to  do,  but  which  I  think  he  never  could  have  men- 
tioned if  it  had  not  been  concerted,  that  his  Father  L'^  Camden  now 
found  it  impossible  for  him  to  continue  in  Office,  and  that  he  had 
no  doubt  but  that  if  that  situation  would  be  agreable   to    me,  the 
members  of  the  Administration  would  be  very  glad  it  should  be  filled 
by  me,  but  that  at  the  same  time  there  was  not  at  present  any  opening 
for  any  other  Cabinet  Office;  my  immediate  Answer  to  this  was,  first 
generally,  the  same  sort  of  answer  which   I  afterwards  gave  to  Pitt, 
but  besides,  that  even  if  I  did  think  the  occasion  called  for  my  coming 
into  Office,  I  could  not  for  a  moment  entertain  an  Idea  of  doing  so 
unaccompanied   by  you  ;    he   again   repeated  that  he  had  no  com- 
mission  to  mention  the  matter  to  me,   and   that  he  did  not  know 
whether  Pitt  would  mention  it  in  the  Interview  we  were  to  have  ; 
but  I  have  myself  very  little  doubt  but  that  he  was  employed  to  feel 
the  ground  a  little  before  that    Interview,   and  that  finding  me  so 
clearly  determined  on  the  Subject,  Pitt  took  the  Line  I  have  already 
described  to  you  in  our  conversation.      I  took  occasion  to  express,  in 
the  course  of  what  I  said,  my  decided  purpose  of  supporting  Govern- 
ment in  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  War,  and  indeed  I  do  not  now 
see  what  other  possible  track  we  can  pursue  in  order  to  arrive  at  a 
desirable  termination  of  it,  for  any  appearance  of  relaxation  in  our 
efforts  now  must  unquestionably  not  only  encourage  the  Enemy,  but 
tend  to  discourage  and  disunite  all  our  Allies,  whom  it  certainly  is  of 
essential  consequence,   if  possible,  to  keep  together.      I  understand 
from  Pitt  that  the  last  private  Accounts  they  have  from  the  Prince  of 
Coburg  mention  his  having  rec*^  positive  Orders  from  Vienna  to  do 
every  thing  in  his  Power  to  force  the  Enemy  to  a  general  Action;  it 
is  therefore  a  most  anxious  moment,  for  he  had  begun  to  take  measures 
accordingly,  and  the  very  next  accounts  may  very  possibly  contain 
something    of  infinite    importance.       The    accounts    in    yesterday's 
Extra^  Gazette  from  Toulon  are,  I  think,  very  satisfactory,  as  they 
seem  to   indicate  a  great  deal  of  Spirit,  and  a  very  cordial  union 
among    the    different    troops    of  the   Garrison,   which  from  all    the 


SPENCER    TO   WINDHAM  87 

reinforcements  they  have  lately  received  appears  to  be  very  equal  to 
the  defence  of  the  Place ;  there  have  also  been  some  great  dissen- 
tions  between  the  French  and  Americans,  which  may  very  probably 
turn  to  good  account.  Upon  the  whole,  notwithstanding  the  un- 
favourable circumstances  which  in  the  course  of  this  very  long  letter 
I  have  alluded  to,  I  feel  inclined  to  be  in  pretty  good  Spirits,  and  if 
we  should  happen  to  gain  anything  like  a  brilliant  advantage  to  close 
the  Campaign  in  Flanders,  it  may  have  a  surprising  effect  in  making 
people  forget  the  former  miscarriages,  and  join  heartily  in  the 
maintenance  of  what  every  day  becomes  more  and  more  the  general 
cause  of  all  that  is  good  or  estimable  under  the  Sun.  Pitt  has 
promised  to  write  me  word  if  any  important  Event  should  take  place, 
and  of  course  you  shall  certainly  hear  from  me  again,  if  I  should  have 
anything  worth  communicating. 

I  am  quite  ashamed  of  having  been  so  long-winded,  but  I  did 
not  well  know  how  to  abridge  what  I  had  to  tell  you,  though  after 
all  I  believe  you  will  not  think  there  is  much  in  it.  I  go  down  to 
Althorp  tomorrow  and  shall  stay  there  till  the  beginning  of  Jan^. 
Parliament  I  understand  is  to  meet  a  few  days  before  the  Birthday. 

Yours  very  faithfully  and  sincerely 

Spencer. 


Windham   to    Burke. 

(Burke  Corn  iv.   192.) 


Fellbrigg, 

November  14,   1793. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  just  received  your  kind  letter,  which,  besides  the 
satisfaction  it  affords  me  in  other  respects,  has  gratified  me  not  a 
little,  by  confirming  an  opinion  which  I  had  been  expressing  the 
moment  before,  in  a  letter  to  M""  Townshend.  I  had  been  stating 
to  him  my  objections  to  that  part  of  the  declaration,  where  so  much 
is  said  about  indemnification,  and  my  fears  of  the  effect   it  might 


88  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

have  in  destroying  the  whole  benefit  proposed  by  the  measure.  It 
is  the  vice  of  this  administration,  if  it  is  not  their  wisdom,  to  be 
conducting  great  concerns  too  much  with  an  eye  to  small  ones. 
Dunkirk  was  to  gratify  the  people  here,  by  the  idea  of  a  security 
gained  to  trade,  and  an  increase  in  revenue  by  the  suppression  of 
smuggling.  The  same  idea  too  of  indemnification  was  operating 
there,  that  is  set  so  forward  in  the  present  declaration.  It  is  difficult 
to  say  how  far  the  comjaromise  with  the  lower  interests  ought  to  be 
carried.  One  knows  that  little  things,  wholly  neglected,  will  defeat 
the  greatest ;  and  the  consequences  must  be  equally  fatal  if  they  are 
attended  to  too  much.  One's  fears  of  the  present  ministry  lie  on 
this  latter  side. 

By  a  letter  which  I  have  got  just  now,  your  apprehensions  about 
Poitou  seem  to  be  well  founded.  The  ministers,  as  I  understand, 
describe  the  situation  of  affairs  there  as  very  bad  ;  or  what  perhaps 
is  hardly  less  discouraging,  seem  to  know  very  little  about  it.  What 
can  the  meaning  be,  of  their  appearing  to  have  done  so  little  in 
support  of  the  stand  made  in  that  quarter?  Is  it  want  of  activity? 
Or  want  of  address  ?  Or  has  the  sending  any  relief  really  been 
impracticable  ?  One  cannot  help  suspecting  here  also  that  selfishness 
may  have  had  something  to  do  ;  and  that  they  have  not  been  equally 
active,  where  success  was  to  produce  no  immediate  credit.  I  feel 
rather  sorry  to  find  that  the  expedition  to  the  West  Indies  seems 
still  to  be  intended. 

The  style  of  MonsS^''  Erskine's  introduction  is  precisely  such  as 
I  should  expect  from  Hippisley's  counsels.  I  had  many  traces  of  it 
in  his  letters  to  me.  He  has  no  idea  of  conducting  a  thing  of  this 
sort,  but  in  the  way  of  a  canvass  ;  and  in  seeking  to  conciliate  all 
interests,  and  to  get  support  from  every  quarter.  Such  a  mode  of 
proceeding  may  be  the  best  for  a  job  at  the  India  House,  but  must 
terribly  disgrace  a  cause  of  this  sort,  even  if  it  should  procure  a  sort 
of  bastard  success.  It  might  not  be  impossible,  by  seeing  Erskine 
upon  his  arrival,  to  obviate  part  of  this  mischief. 

My  wish  is  so  great  of  conferring  with  you  on  this  and  other  still 
more  important  subjects,  that  I  must  come,  I  think,  before  long,  to 
London,  though   I   should  return  in  a  few  days.     The  evil  is,  that 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  89 

when  one  has  got  there,  there  come  so  many  detainers,  it  becomes 
impossible  to  get  away.  Let  me  in  the  mean  time,  beg  you  to 
believe  me, 

My  dear  sir,   Ever  most  truly  yours 

W.   Windham. 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   201.) 

Nov.  25,   1793. 

Since  I  wrote  last,  the  outside  of  affairs  is  a  good  deal  mended, 
but  they  will  not  bear  inspection.  Our  politics  want  directness  and 
simplicity.  A  spirit  of  chicane,  or  something  very  like  it,  pre- 
dominates in  all  that  is  done,  either  by  our  allies  or  by  ourselves. 
Westminster-hall  has  ruined  Whitehall  ;  and  there  are  many  things 
in  which  we  proceed  more  like  lawyers  than  statesmen.  If  this 
distemper  is  not  cured,  I  undertake  to  say,  with  the  more  positive 
assurance,  that  nothing  but  shame  and  destruction  can  be  the  result 
of  all  our  operations  in  the  field  and  in  the  cabinet.  All  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  war  have  arisen  from  this  very  intricacy  and  ambiguity 
in  our  politics ;  and  yet,  though  this  is  as  visible  as  I  think  it  is  real, 
I  do  not  find  the  smallest  disposition  to  make  any  alteration  in  the 
system.  I  have  the  greatest  possible  desire  of  talking  with  you  on 
this  subject.  I  think  something  ought  to  be  done,  and  I  know  that 
I  cannot  act  alone.  If  I  had  not  always  felt  this,  all  that  has 
happened  within  these  three  months  would  have  convinced  me  of  it. 
The  very  existence  of  human  affairs,  in  their  ancient  and  happy 
order,  depends  upon  the  existence  of  this  ministry,  but  it  does  not 
depend  on  their  existence  only  in  their  ministerial  situation  and 
capacity,  but  on  their  doing  their  duty  in  it.  They  are  certainly 
bewildered  in  the  labyrinth  of  their  own  politics.  What  you  observe 
is  most  true  ;  they  think  they  can  defend  themselves  the  better  by 
taking  part  of  the  ground  of  their  adversary.  But  that  is  a  woful 
mistake.      He  is  consistent  and  they  are  not.      He  is  strengthened 

B.-W.  c.  12 


90  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

by  their  concessions.  He  avails  himself  of  what  they  yield,  and 
contends  with  advantage  for  the  rest.  As  to  the  affairs  of  France, 
into  which  they  have  entered  at  last,  it  is  plain  to  me  that  they  are 
wholly  confounded  by  their  magnitude.  The  crimes  that  accumu- 
lated on  each  other  astonish  them.  These  crimes  produce  the  effects 
which  their  authors  propose  by  them.  They  fill  our  ministers,  and  I 
believe  the  ministers  of  other  courts,  not  with  indignation  and  manly 
resentment,  but  with  an  abject  terror.  They  are  oppressed  by  these 
crimes — they  cry  quarter — and  then  they  talk  a  feeling  language  of 
mercy;  but  it  is  not  mercy  to  the  innocent  and  virtuous  sufferers, 
but  to  base,  cruel,  and  relentless  tyrants.  I  shall  explain  myself 
more  fully  when  we  meet.  People  talk  of  the  cruelty  of  punishing  a 
revolutionary  tribunal,  and  the  authors  of  the  denunciation  of  an 
infant  king,  concerning  offences  that  the  voice  of  humanity  cannot 
utter,  in  order  to  criminate  his  own  mother,  at  the  very  moment 
(this  very  moment)  when  they  turn  out  of  the  house,  which  they 
have  given  them  in  the  king's  name,  and  taken  credit  for  it,  six 
hundred  and  eighty  virtuous  and  religious  men,  in  the  beginning  of 
a  winter  which  threatens  no  small  rigour,  without  a  place  to  hide 
their  heads  in.  I  am  mortified  at  all  this,  and  I  believe  I  express 
myself  with  some  confusion  about  it.  But  we  must  endeavour  to 
make  our  complaints  rather  effectual  than  loud.  The  other  faction 
is  dreadful  indeed.  It  consists  of  two  parts  ;  one  of  which  is  feebly 
and  unsystematically  right,  the  other  regularly,  uniformly,  and 
actively  wrong ;  and  what  is  natural,  that  which  is  the  most  steady 
and  energetic  gives  the  law  to  that  which  is  lax  and  wavering. 
The  entire  unfolding  of  the  Jacobin  system  has  made  no  change  in 
them  whatsoever.  Not  one  of  them  has  been  converted  ;  no,  nor 
even  shaken  ;  and  those  who  coincide  with  us  in  the  absolute 
necessity  of  this  war  (to  which  however  they  give  but  a  very  trim- 
ming and  ambiguous  support)  are  become  far  more  attached  than 
ever  to  their  Jacobin  friends,  are  animated  with  much  greater  rage 
than  ever  against  the  ministers,  and  are  become  not  much  less 
irritated  against  those  of  their  old  friends  who  act  decidedly 
and  honestly  in  favour  of  their  principles.  This  state  of  things 
requires  to  be  handled  according  to  its  true  nature.      If  you   and 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  9I 

I  take  the  steps  we  ought  to  take,  there  is  yet  a  chance  that  all 
may  be  right.  For  God's  sake  come,  and  come  speedily,  for  no  time 
is  to  be  lost ! 

Ever  most  faithfully  yours 

Edmund  Burke. 


Windham   to   Pitt. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  ISO 

16  Dec.   1793. 

Sir 

The  only  point  on  which   it  is   material   that   I    should 

trouble    you    is    that    which     relates    to   the    communica"    with    the 

P[rinces].     On  this  I  could  wish  to  state  such  facts  only  as  I  have 

happened  to  hear,  without  repeating  opinions  with  which   you   are 

already  acquainted. 

The  P[rince]s  I  understand  are  full  of  jealousy  of  this  conference 
which  they  understand  is  to  precede  any  recognition  of  their  title. 
Their  jealousy  turns  principally  upon  these  points  : — 

A  fear  lest  the  purpose  of  this  country  should  be  to  limit  their 
authority  in  order  to  keep  Fr[ance]  hereafter  in  a  feeble  and  de- 
pressed state. 

A  fear  lest  the  ideas  of  the  constitutionalists  should  be  suffered 
to  prevail  too  much',  in  which  their  apprehension  they  are  confirmed 
by  the  terms  of  the  agreement  at  Toulon. 

A  fear  lest  views  of  indemnification  should  operate  too  far,  and 
sacrifices  be  required  of  them  inconsistent  with  their  duty  and 
character. 

A  general  apprehension,  growing  out  of  all  the  former,  that  the 
Cabinet  here  is  not  in  earnest  in  wishing  to  see  them  for  the  present 
at  the  head  of  the  Royalist  party:  but  would  rather  that  the  cause 
sh"^  to  a  certain  length  be  carried  on"  without  them. 

'  Ideas — too  much]  altered  from  "the  counsels  of  some  constitutionalists,  whom 
they  suppose  to  be  in  this  country  should  be  too  much  listened  to." 

'  That  the  cause — carried  on]  altered  from  "carry  on  the  cause  to  a  certain 
length." 

12 — 2 


92  WINDHAM    TO    PITT 

These  seem  to  be  the  principal  heads  of  uneasiness,  which 
whether  reasonable  or  not  must  be  considered  as  very  excuseable 
in  their  situation. 

The  danger  is,  that  in  the  state  of  ferment  in  which  their  friends 
must  be,  and  stimulated  in  particular,  as  C[omte]  D'A[rtois]  is,  by 
every  feeling  of  duty  and  honour.  He  should  take  some  rash  step, 
and  without  consulting  anything  but  his  sentiments  and  feelings 
should  throw  himself  upon  the  C[oast]  of  B[rittany]  in  the  first  vessel 
that  he  can  procure. 

The  person  from  whom  I  hear  this  principally,  and  who  though 
standing  in  an  inferior  situation  to  the  D[uc]  D'H[arcourt]  is  still 
much'  in  their  secrets,  is  persuaded  nevertheless  that  they  are  much 
disposed  to  be  tractable,  and  would  be  quieted  by  a  very  general 
assurance  relative  to  the  above  points,  conveyed  to  them  by  a  person 
in  whose  sincerity  they  could  confide. 

I  know  not  that  I  can  add  anything  to  the  simple  exposition  of 
the  fact,  coupled  with  those  opinions  which  I  took  the  liberty  [of^] 
stating  to  you  the  other  day.  I  am  obliged  at  present  to  write 
rather  in  a  hurry,  as  I  wish  to  leave  town  today.  I  regret  now 
rather  that  I  missed  the  occasion  of  discoursing  on  any  such  points 
more  at  leisure,  which  you  and  M^  D[undas]  were  so  obliging  as  to 
offer. 

Another  point  occurs  to  me  at  this  moment  which  I  will  just 
mention  : — the  subject  of  my  communications  from  M''  H[ippisleyJ. 
By  letters  which  I  have  just  got  from  him.  He  expressed  consider- 
able apprehensions,  giving  at  the  same  time  his  reasons  for  them,  of 
the  assiduities  and  instances  of  the  Russian  Minister:  Mg*"  E.,  who 
called  upon  [me]  this  morning,  described  to  me,  though  without 
complaint,  some  embarassments  under  which  He  felt  himself,  in  not 
being  able  to  write  to  his  court  what  hopes  he  might  entertain 
respecting  some  of  the  objects  of  his  journey.  He  proposes  in  the 
course  of  a  week  to  set  off  for  Scotland. 


'  Interlined  "greatly."  -  MS.  to. 


burke  to  windham  93 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.   205.) 

Becoxsfield, 

Jan.  8,   1794. 

My  dear  Sir, 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  business  of  importance  called 
you  to  Norfolk,  and  has  kept  you  there,  I  did  not  choose  to  break  in 
upon  your  business  ;  [n]or  if  you  wished  for  a  little  repose  did  I  choose 
to  disturb  your  quiet.  Alas !  if  I  had  done  so,  I  could  perhaps  have 
done  little  myself,  and  perhaps  you  could  not  have  done  much  more 
to  prevent  the  disasters  which  are  likely  to  fall  upon  Europe. 
Toulon  is  not  only  a  calamitous  but,  in  my  mind,  a  most  disgraceful 
affair.  We  really  stand  in  need  of  men  of  capacity  for  matters  of 
the  least  difficulty.  The  whole  stock  of  abilities  in  Europe  perhaps 
is  not  equal  to  the  demand  ;  but  we  had  resolved  not  to  profit  of 
what  there  was.  I  have  a  strong  opinion  that  Frenchmen  are  best 
for  French  affairs.  I  have  an  opinion  too,  which  I  don't  know 
whether  I  can  make  equally  evident  ;  it  is,  that  the  emigrants  have 
better  parts  than  the  people  among  whom  they  have  taken  refuge. 
This  I  know  would  be  reputed  heresy,  blasphemy,  madness,  etc.  etc. 
But  I  am  almost  convinced  that  such  is  the  fact,  and  that  we  have 
suffered  all  that  we  have  suffered,  in  these  two  campaigns,  by  repel- 
ling them  and  refusing  to  consult,  and  as  much  as  possible  in  any 
way  to  use  them,  in  their  own  affairs.  To  this  I  attribute,  amongst 
other  causes,  but  to  this  principally,  our  shameful  flight  from  Toulon. 
But  if  my  speculations  be  false  and  unfounded,  come  and  help  me  to 
make  them  better.  You  will  soon  be  wanted,  and  I  really  wish  you 
here  before  the  birth-day.  The  earlier  the  better.  I  am  not  very 
sanguine  about  the  effect  of  anything  ;  but  it  is  not  our  hopes,  but 
our  duty,  that  is  to  call  forth  our  exertion.  I  think  just  in  this  bad 
state  of  our  affairs  we  are  doubly  bound  to  show  ourselves  at  court. 

I  am  ever  most  truly  and  affectionately  yours 

Edmund  Burke. 


94  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

I  do  not  believe  the  Christian  army  yet  done  up.  But  we  do  not 
make  a  movement  towards  them  ;  we  expect  them  to  do  everything 
for  us ;  and  then  we  will  condescend  to  take  the  command  of  them, 
and  make  them  act  under  us  and  for  our  purposes. 


Richard  Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  33.) 

JarC.  8,   1794. 

My  dear  Windham 

I  left  my  father  at  Beaconsfield  this  morning :  he  agreed 
with  tne  that  it  was  full  time  you  should  come  up.  The  events 
which  have  happened  furnish  abundance  of  matter  on  which  he 
wishes  to  talk  with  you  :  And  surely  it  is  right  that  you  should  be  in 
town  a  few  days  before  the  Meeting^  Dreadful  as  the  aspect  of 
things  is,  I  do  not  like  to  despair,  as  the  despair  must  be  so  very 
comprehensive  if  it  exists  at  all.  The  resources  of  the  civilized 
world  cannot,  one  should  hope,  be  exhausted  tho'  they  have  been  so 
much  squander'd.  But  I  am  sure,  unless  things  get  into  a  different 
train,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  we  cannot  be  saved,  if  we  can  be  so 
upon  any  terms.  What  is  to  be  done,  or  how  we  can  contribute  to 
effect  the  proper  line  of  action  when  we  have  found  it,  is  the  difficulty. 
Consultation,  however,  may  suggest  something.  And  while  you 
have  seats  in  Parliament,  you  are  not  wholly  without  resource.  I 
understand  Lord  Spencer  is  in  town.  There  seems  to  be  still  some 
possibility  that  the  account  which  has  been  flying  about  for  some 
time  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's  victory  may  be  true  :  a  person  who 
is  in  correspondence  with  him  asserts  the  fact  from  that  correspond- 
ence, giving  particulars  of  the  action,  which  he  says  took  place 
between  the  28*^  and  30*^'^  But  this  is  not  compatible  with 
Wurmser's  having  crossed  the  Rhine,  which  I  fear  is  too  true. 

Believe  me  most  sincerely  yours  &c. 

R.  Burke. 


'  Parliament  met  on  21  Jan. 


portland  to  windham  95 

Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.   1 7-) 

BULSTRODE, 

II   fatf.   1794. 

My  dear  Windham, 

When  I  look  at  the  date  of  your  letter,  and  recollect  the 
sort  of  engagement  I  entered  into  at  the  time  I  returned  you  my 
thanks  for  it,  I  feel  it  quite  impossible  to  justify  my  silence.  It  is 
very  certain  that  the  subject,  on  which  I  undertook  to  give  you  my 
sentiments  more  at  length,  abounds  with  so  many  unpleasant  vexa- 
tions and  distressing  considerations,  that  I  can  not  but  say  I  was 
always  ready  to  avail  myself  of  a  pretext  to  lay  it  aside ;  and  I  can 
say  with  no  less  truth,  that  although  the  temper  and  habit  of  your 
mind  appeared  to  me  necessarily  to  suggest  to  you  many  questions 
and  many  cases  of  conscience  respecting  our  publick  conduct,  the 
line  which  it  became  and  behoved  us  to  follow  in  the  present  Crisis 
seemed  to  me  so  plain  and  distinct,  that  even  the  jealousy  of  my 
friendship  for  you  did  not  give  me  a  moment's  apprehension  of  any 
difference  in  our  ultimate  decision. 

After  all  that  has  been  said  and  written  upon  the  subject,  the 
Question  for  our  present  determination  reduces  itself  to  the  con- 
sideration of  what  our  Duty  to  the  publick  requires  us  to  do  as 
Whigs,  that  is,  as  members  of  a  Party,  or,  as  unconnected  Individuals 
— Or,  in  other  words,  what  are  the  most  effectual  means  that  can  be 
taken  by  us  for  the  support  of  the  Government  and  Constitution 
of  our  Country  and  the  general  preservation  and  maintenance  of 
Religion,  Law,  Good  Order,  in  short,  of  the  principles  and  purposes 
of  Civil  Society. 

I  know  it  has  been  very  strongly  urged,  and  by  some  for  whose 
judgement  and  disinterestedness  I  have  the  highest  respect,  that 
our  Duty  calls  upon  us  at  this  moment  not  only  to  co-operate  or  act 
in  conjunction  with  Ministers,  but  to  make  so  perfectly  a  common 
cause  with  them  as  to  become  members  of  their  Administration  by 
accepting  certain  offices  which  there  is  very  good  reason  to  believe 


96  PORTLAND   TO    WINDHAM 

are  ready  to  be  offered  to  us  ;  that  every  mode  of  support  other  than 
this  demonstrates  a  distrust  and  diffidence  on  the  part  of  the  Giver, 
which  cannot  but  be  injurious  to  the  existing  Government,  be  the 
hands  what  they  may  by  which  it  is  administered  ;  that  support,  to 
be  effectual,  must  be  given  completely  and  indiscriminately,  and 
cannot  be  dealt  out  by  apportionment  or  measure  ;  that  if  given 
partially  it  betrays  an  indecision  and  unsteadiness  of  Character  in 
the  Givers,  which  in  as  much  as  it  is  prejudicial  to  them,  equally 
diminishes  and  weakens  the  effect,  even  of  that  portion  of  assistance 
which  is  intended  to  be  given  ;  so  as  to  render  it  doubtful  whether 
it  is  not  rather  of  disservice  than  of  any  utility  or  benefit  to  the 
Publick.  This  subject  has  also  been  treated  with  ridicule  as  well  as 
with  good  and  powerful  argument  ;  but  it  is  an  abuse  of  your  time 
to  take  more  notice  of  them,  knowing  as  I  do  that  there  is  not  a 
medium  through  which  this  subject  could  be  seen  in  which  it  has  not 
been  presented  to  your  view ;  that  friendship,  affection,  partiality, 
admiration  for  you,  integrity  and  artifice  have  all  been  exerted  to 
the  utmost  to  induce  you  to  adopt  this  opinion  ;  and  I  only  state 
them  to  shew  you,  that  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  arguments  which 
have  been  used  on  this  side  of  the  question. 

As  I  have  been  long  in  the  habit  of  believing  that  certain 
obligations  or  conditions  or  Duties  are  respectively  attached  to  every 
station  or  rank  of  life,  I  have  no  difficulty  in  admitting  that  the 
acceptance  of  office  under  certain  conditions  is  one  of  those  to  which 
persons  of  our  description  are  liable,  but  then  I  contend  that  the 
judgement  of  those  conditions,  under,  what  I  shall  call,  his  innate 
responsibility,  rests  with  every  individual.  I  am  also  decidedly  of 
opinion  that  the  existence  of  a  Whig  Party  is  essential  to  the  well 
being  of  this  Country,  as  well  as  to  the  preservation  of  its  Constitution, 
and  allow  me,  my  dear  Windham,  when  the  name  of  Whig  has  been 
so  prostituted  and  counterfeited  as  we  have  seen  it,  to  deposit  with 
you  in  a  very  few  words  my  definition  of  the  Whig  Party,  which  I 
have  always  understood  to  be,  an  union  of  any  number  of  persons 
of  independent  minds  and  fortunes  formed  and  connected  together 
by  their  belief  in  the  principles  upon  which  the  Revolution  of  1688 
was  founded  and  perfected,  and  by  their  attachment  to  the  present 


PORTLAND   TO   WINDHAM  97 

form  of  our  Government,  to  all  its  establishments  and  Orders  Reli- 
gious and  Civil  ;  and  the  test  of  whose  Conduct  as  a  Party  must 
consist  in  their  never  supporting,  proposing,  or  resisting,  any 
measure,  in  or  out  of  Parliament,  to  which,  if  they  were  possessed 
of  power,  if  they  were  the  ministers  of  the  country,  they  would  not 
give  exactly  the  same  treatment. 

Considering  these  positions  as  the  standard  or  scale  by  which  I 
am  to  try  the  propriety  of  the  Conduct  I  am  to  hold  upon  all  publick 
occasions,  it  is  certainly  not  from  envy,  and  I  hope  as  little  from 
resentment,  that  I  feel  myself  under  the  necessity  of  adverting  to 
the  present  Administration.  Whenever  I  have  thought  their  measures 
right  I  have  supported  them,  and  as  often  as  I  think  so  I  will  support 
them.  In  the  conduct  of  the  present  War,  though  there  are  cases 
in  which  I  may  have  thought  some  of  them  injudicious,  and  some 
which  have  been  unfortunate,  they  will  not,  in  the  present  moment, 
be  arraigned  or  blamed  by  me  ;  nor  shall  any  encouragement  be 
wanting  on  my  part  to  bring  the  War  to  a  successfull,  a  safe  and 
honorable  termination.  I  shall  advert  to  the  conduct  of  the  present 
Administration  no  further,  nor  desire  the  principles  of  their  formation 
and  conduct  to  be  remember'd  no  otherwise,  than  as  they  may  be 
necessary  to  justify  the  opinion  I  mean  to  submit  to  you.  It  will 
not  be  denied  to  me  that  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  present 
Reign  has  been  its  uniform  and  almost  unremitting  attention  and 
study  to  debase  and  vilify  the  natural  Aristocracy  of  the  Country,  and 
under  the  popular  pretence  of  abolishing  all  party  distinctions,  to 
annihilate,  if  possible,  the  Whig  Party.  For  these  express  purposes 
the  present  Ministry  was  formed,  and  that  they  have  most  religiously 
adhered  to  and  most  exemplarily  fulfilled  the  purposes  of  their 
creation,  every  year  of  their  existence  would  furnish  us  with  abundant 
instances,  but  their  conduct  at  the  time  of  the  Regency  would  of 
itself  be  sufficient,  and  I  could  be  satisfied  to  confine  myself  to  that 
measure  only,  could  I  forget  what  passed  no  longer  ago  than  the 
latter  end  of  the  last  Session  with  regard  to  the  Election  of  the 
16  Peers  of  Scotland.  But  to  compress  what  occurs  to  me  upon  this 
subject  into  the  smallest  possible  compass,  I  will  not  insist  at  all 
upon  the  objections  which  arise  out  of  the  Circumstances  I  have  just 

B.-W.  c.  13 


98  PORTLAND    TO   WINDHAM 

alluded  to,  and  I  will  endeavour  in  the  farther  consideration  of  this 
question  to  make  the  interest  of  the  publick  the  main  and  sole  ground 
upon  which  my  opinion  shall  be  formed. 

If  the  Case  could  admit  of  any  exception,  I  should  insist  that 
there  never  was  a  Crisis  in  which  it  was  of  so  much  importance  as  the 
present,  that  the  Characters  of  those  who  are  admitted  to  responsible 
situations  in  Government  should  be  exempt  from  all  suspicion  of 
being  influenced  by  motives  of  interest ;  that  considering  the  pre- 
dicament in  which  We  have  so  long  stood  in  opposition  or  contradis- 
tinction to  the  present  Ministers,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  for 
any  of  Us,  under  any  circumstances  which  have  as  yet  come  to  my 
Knowledge,  to  accede  to,  and  suffer  ourselves  to  be  incorporated  into 
the  present  Administration,  without  making  ourselves  obnoxious  to 
such  suspicions  ;  from  whence  I  conclude  that  it  is  inconsistent  with 
the  uniform  tenor  of  our  Conduct  and  incompatible  with  our  duty  to 
the  publick  to  accept  any  offer  which  there  is  any  reason  to  imagine 
will  be  made  to  us.  The  Conversations  which  passed  about  the  time 
of  the  late  Chancellor's  removal  from  his  office,  the  Glass  which 
L^  Loughborough  was  desired  by  Dundas,  and  authorised  by  Pitt, 
to  hold  up  to  us,  the  overtures  which  have  been  since  made  to  You, 
and  the  intimation  of  such  a  weight,  of  so  many  seats,  in  Cabinet  as 

might  be  sufficient  to  ensure  an  honorable  support  to  L*^  S ,  if 

He  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  undertake  the  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland, 
are  proofs  to  demonstration  to  me,  that  no  intention  has  ever  been 
entertained,  or  perhaps  conceived,  of  forming  an  Administration  upon 
such  a  Basis  as  would  comprehend  the  collective  strength  of  the 
Country;  that  the  ideas  of  strengthening  government  have  not  origi- 
nated out  of  a  wish  or  hope  of  Union,  but,  as  I  fear,  out  of  a  desire 
to  take  advantage  of  the  differences  which  have  unhappily  arisen 
among  Us,  and  with  a  view  to  make  those  divisions,  which  have  been 
the  consequence  of  them,  irreconcileable  and  irreparable.  This  at 
least  has  been  evidently  the  object  of  all  the  new  Proselytes.  When 
a  Conduct  has  been  pursued  so  very  reverse  from  that  which  I  should 
have  thought  the  peculiarity  and  magnitude  of  the  present  Crisis 
required,  and  which  the  Duty  of  persons  in  ministerial  situations 
imposed  upon  them,  I  own  myself  at  a  loss  to  give  them  credit  for 


PORTLAND    TO   WINDHAM  99 

that  sincerity,  or  for  any  one  of  those  motives,  which  will  war- 
rant me  to  suppose  that  any  such  inclination  has  ever  been  felt 
by  Pitt,  as  can  secure  us,  were  we  to  consent  to  listen  to  his  over- 
tures, from  the  reproach  of  having  made  a  sacrifice  of  our  principles, 
or  can  give  us  admission  to  the  publick  service  in  such  a  way  as  to 
ensure  to  Government  the  full  benefit  of  the  Influence  we  derive 
from  our  Characters.  If  it  was  worth  while  to  advert  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  offer  of  the  Marquisate  of  Rockingham  to  L*^  Fitz- 
william  and  of  the  Garter  to  myself,  there  would  appear  in  those 
trifles  a  want  of  sincerity  so  perfectly  unnecessary  that  one  cannot 
help  wondering  at  it ;  but  when  it  cannot  help  discovering  itself  on 
such  very  trivial  occasions,  you  will  allow  that  it  must  create  an 
impression  not  very  favourable  to  the  idea  of  trusting  what  ought  to 
be  most  dear  to  one  to  the  Keeping  of  so  inattentive  and  careless  a 
Manager.  So  much  then  for  the  sincerity  which  we  are  to  look  for 
in  these  offers.  One  word  now  for  the  Candor  ;  and  to  you  and  me, 
who  each  of  us  know  a  little  of  Ireland,  it  requires  a  measure  of  zeal 
for  the  publick  service,  which  I  confess  I  am  not  possessed  of,  to 
admit  the  state  of  that  Country  to  be  brought  forward  to  be  set  in 
the  front  of  all  their  arguments  by  the  present  Ministers  as  the 
inducement,  the  justification,  the  unanswerable  reason  for  our  inlisting 
into  their  Corps,  for  our  not  hesitating  to  accede  to  their  Administra- 
tion. And  is  it  impossible  to  refuse  one's  hand  to  Sylv*"  Douglas  and 
decline  the  honor  of  being  led  by  him  through  ranks  of  Renuncia- 
tions, Commercial  Propositions,  Regency  Measures,  encouragements 
and  discouragements  to  Catholics  and  Reformers,  alternate  submis- 
sions and  resistances,  new  Jobs,  new  Boards  and  the  whole  Battle 
Array  of  temporary  expedients  to  the  Head  of  the  Council  Table  in 
Ireland  ?  But  here  I  will  leave  this  part  of  the  subject,  a  very 
serious  and  most  important  one  assuredly,  and  one  which  in  my 
more  enthusiastick  moments  I  have  looked  to  as  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  certain  instruments  by  which  it  might  be  hoped  that  the 
salvation  of  this  Country,  as  well  as  that,  might  be  permanently 
effected.  But  in  considering  the  question  of  our  acceding  to  the 
present  Administration  it  is  not  the  expediency  or  propriety  of 
the  measure  as  it  concerns  any  of  us  personally  that  I  trouble  my 

13—2 


lOO  PORTLAND    TO    WINDHAM 

head  about ;  it  is  solely  the  effect  which  it  would  have  upon  the 
publick  mind,  and  its  tendency  through  that  Organ  to  render  Govern- 
ment more  or  less  respectable,  concerning  which  I  feel  any  way 
interested.  It  must  be  allowed  that  there  are  several  persons  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Opposition  or  Whig  Party  who  from  the 
respectability  of  their  Characters  possess  a  considerable  share  of  the 
good  opinion  and  esteem  of  the  Publick.  Some  of  them  certainly 
owe  this  to  their  Talents  and  Abilities,  but  all  of  them  are  at  least 
as  much  indebted  for  it  to  the  ingenuousness,  the  integrity,  and 
disinterestedness  of  their  conduct.  As  long  as  they  preserve  this 
title  to  the  publick  esteem,  so  long  will  they  have  it  in  their  power, 
either  as  Individuals  or  as  Party  men,  to  give  very  great  assistance 
and  strength  to  Government  by  their  avowed  sanction  and  support 
of  the  measures  which  Ministers  may  bring  forward — in  their  private 
Situations  they  can  give  energy  to  measures  which  want  force,  they 
can  controll  and  suppress  others  before  they  can  have  risen  to  a 
state  to  be  obnoxious,  they  can  in  many  cases  counteract  popular 
prejudices  and  engage  and  ensure  popular  favour ;  from  the  confi- 
dence they  possess,  from  the  impossibility  of  any  jealousy  or  suspicion 
attaching  to  them,  they  can  give  the  tone  to  the  publick  mind,  and 
very  nearly  be  able  to  place  every  measure  of  Administration  in  the 
light  in  which  they  wish  it  to  be  seen.  But  let  them  accede  to  the 
present  Administration,  let  them  take  offices  under  M''  Pitt,  and  from 
that  moment  their  weight,  their  consideration,  their  very  names  are 
lost.  Will  it  ever  from  that  moment  be  a  question  what  may  be  the 
Opinion  of  M'"  Windham,  L*^  Spencer,  L**  Fitzwilliam,  or  any  other 
person  of  that  description  ?  Whether  suspicion  or  distrust  shall 
follow  that  step,  I  don't  here  inquire,  I  will  even  suppose  that  the 
publick  will  do  you  all  perfect  justice, — but  you  become  involved  in 
the  mass  of  Administration,  you  become  the  adherents  and  followers 
of  Pitt.  You  may  be  of  some  use  in  Council,  but  your  Station  in 
publick  Opinion  is  gone,  it  is  lost,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge, 
can  not  in  the  present  moment  be  compensated  by  any  good  which 
may  be  done  by  your  obtaining  Seats  in  the  Cabinet.  As  upon  the 
Party,  the  effects  of  this  conduct  cannot  but  be  productive  of  very 
material  injury;  and  to  one  devoted  to  Party  as  I  am,  for  the  reasons 


PORTLAND    TO    WINDHAM  IQI 

which  I  have  stated  in  the  former  part  of  this  Letter,  it  can  not  but 
appear  certain  to  produce  the  most  serious  injuries  to  the  true 
interests  of  the  Publick.  It  has  of  late  been  extremely  convenient 
to  some  persons,  to  whom  it  has  at  other  times  been  as  convenient 
to  be  thought  to  be  attached  to  the  Whig  Party,  to  suppose,  and  to 
endeavour  to  make  it  generally  believed,  that  the  Party  was  broken 
to  pieces,  that  it  was  dissolved,  that  it  had  not  any  longer  even 
the  means  of  existence  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  but  with  too  much 
success.  But  according  to  my  ideas  of  several  of  those  who  have 
professed  themselves  members  of  it,  according  to  my  idea  of  its 
Vital  Principle,  I  shall  deny  the  possibility  of  its  dissolution. — It 
must  be  as  eternal,  as  I  wish  the  Constitution  of  this  Country  to  be. 
It  must  be  coexistent  with  the  principles  of  Right  and  Wrong. 
That  it  has  suffer'd,  that  some  of  its  most  precious  and  most  lovely 
Ornaments  have  been  torn  from  it,  I  admit  and  lament — the  wound 
it  received  last  year  in  one  of  its  most  capital  Branches  is  an  event 
which  affects  me  with  the  deepest  concern  and  affliction  ;  that  no 
support  can  be  now,  at  this  moment,  expected  from  that  Branch  I 
can  not  deny ;  but  let  us  hope  that  time  may  restore  it  to  its  Parent 
Trunk,  and  that  it  may  again  strengthen  and  invigorate  its  native 
Stock.  If  the  existence  of  a  Whig  Party  is  as  essential  as  I  contend 
it  to  be  to  the  well  being  and  prosperity  of  the  State,  and  that  the 
inlisting  with  the  present  Ministers  is  productive  of  discredit  and 
weakness  to  that  Party,  I  conceive  that  it  can  not  well  be  denied, 
under  the  actual  circumstances  of  this  Country,  that  a  greater  injury 
could  [not]  befall  the  Cause  of  Government  than  would  ensue  by  the 
principal  Members  of  that  Party  being  induced  to  accept  any  offers 
which  can  be  held  out  to  them  by  the  present  Ministry.  I  have 
already  said  enough  and  perhaps  more  than  enough  upon  this 
subject,  and  yet  I  can  not  pass  over  an  argument  arising,  as  I  under- 
stand, out  of  the  plans  of  the  present  opposition  and  the  irreconcile- 
able  difference  which  is  likely  to  continue  for  a  very  long  period  of 
time  between  us  and  that  description  of  person.  Because  a  certain 
number  of  Gentlemen,  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  acting  with  us 
for  several  years,  happen  now  to  differ  from  us  so  essentially,  upon 
points  of  very  great  and  high  moment  and  importance,  as  to  have 


I02  PORTLAND    TO    WINDHAM 

occasioned  a  complete  separation  or  breach  between  us ;  and  because 
upon  these  points  a  perfect  Uniformity  of  Sentiment  and  Conduct  has 
prevailed  between  the  Whigs  and  the  present  Ministers,  it  is  urged 
that  the  Whigs  ought  to  accept  offices  (seats  in  the  Cabinet,  I  under- 
stand) if  such  should  be  offer'd  them  by  the  present  Ministers.  For 
my  own  part,  I  must  say  that  no  such  obligation  can  be  admitted  bv 
me,  any  more  than  that  such  a  conclusion  is  warranted  by  the  pre- 
mises I  have  just  stated.  I  should  really  conceive  a  proposal  on 
the  part  of  Administration  to  that  effect  to  be  particularly  ill-timed 
and  in  all  respects  very  injudicious  and  ill-imagined.  It  would  seem 
on  that  part  an  admission  of  weakness  which  Our  Conduct  is  intended 
to  render  unnecessary,  and  would  be  a  disregard  or  abandonment  of 
an  Advantage  which  the  liberality  of  that  conduct  would  alone  hold 
out  to  them.  In  another  light  it  can  not  be  considered  but  as  liable 
to  particular  objection  in  the  present  moment,  in  as  much  as  it  would 
subject  them  to  the  imputation,  with  which  they  have  been  so  often 
charged,  of  availing  themselves  with  eagerness  of  these  unhappy 
differences  to  prejudice  the  characters  of  that  Party,  and  of  those 
very  persons,  whom  it  is  their  interest  to  hold  out  to  the  publick 
view  as  disposed  to  give  them  a  disinterested  and  consequently  the 
most  effectual  support.  So  far  with  respect  to  the  offer,  now  as  to 
the  acceptance  of  it ;  I  can  not  discover,  with  all  the  attention  I  am 
master  of,  any  inducement  or  justification,  which  this  unhappy 
schism  affords  for  it  ;  in  my  view  of  it  (the  Schism)  it  operates  the 
direct  contrary  way.  I  should  infer  that  it  rendered  it  necessary 
for  Us  to  be  more  reserved  and  guarded  in  our  conduct  towards 
Administration,  and  to  be  more  than  ordinarily  cautious  in  not  giving 
ground  for  suspicion  or  jealousies  of  an  interested  nature ;  that,  it 
being  but  too  probable  that  the  opposition  even  to  this  War  would 
not  be  an  unpopular  conduct,  and  considering  of  whom  that  Opposi- 
tion would  be  principally  composed,  comparisons  would  naturally  be 
made  of  their  conduct  with  that  of  the  Friends  they  had  quitted  ;  and 
that  this  consideration  ought  to  be  an  additional  argument  against  our 
listening  to  any  offer  that  would  give  color  to  suspicions,  which  I  am 
very  sure  the  factious  spirit  which  animates  and  actuates  some  of 
those  who  compose  that  Opposition  will  not  let  them  be  backward 


PORTLAND    TO    WINDHAM  IO3 

in  raising  and  propagating.  I  therefore  must  be  allowed  to  say,  that 
to  the  best  of  my  poor  judgement  I  can  not  but  rank  this  argument 
on  the  side  of  those  which  I  should  urge  for  deprecating  any  such 
offer  in  the  present  circumstances.  There  now  remains,  as  I  believe, 
and  as  you  must  hope,  only  one  more  subject  for  consideration,  and 
on  that  I  mean  to  say  but  very  few  words,  as  I  conceive  I  have 
already  in  a  great  measure  anticipated  what  would  be  applicable  to 
it.  But  it  having  been  asked,  if  a  sincere  disposition  to  form  an 
Administration  upon  what  we  consider  its  true  bottom  should  really 
exist,  whether  it  should  be  frustrated  ?  I  will  acknowledge  to  you, 
to  whom  I  wish  to  speak  without  any  reserve,  that  it  is  a  question 
which  under  the  present  circumstances  would  require  the  most  cool 
and  serious  consideration,  and  to  which  I  am  certainly  not  prepared 
to  give  an  answer.  It  does  not  however  seem  to  me  to  be  an 
embarassment  of  which  We  are  very  immediately  likely  to  feel  the 
weight,  and  in  the  mean  time  I  have  not  the  least  hesitation  in 
declaring,  that  considering  the  proofs  I  have  had  of  the  sincerity 
and  candor  of  the  present  Ministers,  and  the  judgement  I  have  been 
able  to  form  of  the  Habits  of  their  minds  and  their  general  train  of 
sentiments,  it  is  my  clear  and  decided  opinion  that  the  disposition, 
such  as  it  appears  to  me,  ought  most  certainly  to  be  frustrated,  and 
if  possible  the  idea  of  it  not  suffer'd  to  exist,  because  it  seems  to  me 
incapable  of  producing  any  other  effects  than  the  ruin  of  those  who 
suffer  themselves  to  be  deluded  by  it,  the  inflicting  a  deeper  wound 
on  the  Cause  of  Whiggism  than  it  has  ever  yet  suffer'd,  and  preparing 
a  severer  blow  for  the  cause  of  Government  than  it  has  yet  been 
exposed  to. 

You  are  now  possessed  of  my  sentiments  respecting  the  conduct 
which  it  appears  to  me  it  would  become  us  to  hold  in  the  present 
crisis.  I  have  laid  them  very  fully  before  you,  and  without  any 
reserve.  Should  they  be  fortunate  enough  to  meet  your  concurrence, 
and  that  of  any  other  person  (I  mean  L<^  Spencer  in  particular) 
or  persons  to  whom  you  may  think  proper  to  communicate  them, 
I  shall  be  extremely  happy,  and  very  ready  to  concert  with  you 
the  best  means  of  giving  them  effect.  You  can  not  be  more 
anxious  than  I   am  to  give  the  most  effectual  support  to  the  War, 


I04  PORTLAND    TO   WINDHAM 

to  re-establish  the  Reign  of  Order,  and  to  vindicate  the  cause  of 
Whiggism.  I  shall  be  in  Town  on  Tuesday  and  hope  to  find 
you  there. 

I  am  ever,   My  dear  Windham, 

most  sincerely  Yours  ever 

Portland. 


Sir 


Windham   to   Pitt. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  19.) 

[Endorsed,  ya/i"  20'*,   1794.] 


I  should  hardly  think  it  necessary  to  trouble  you  with 
any  account  of  the  meeting  tonight  at  Burlington  House,  if  a  doubt 
thrown  out  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  company — and  that  too  of  a 
sort  perfectly  consistent  with  the  most  entire  radical  agreement- — had 
not  produced  some  conversation,  which  rumour  may  easily  improve 
into  a  debate  and  make  use  of  to  raise  a  question  as  to  the  general 
harmony  and  unanimity  of  the  meeting. 

The  terms  of  the  notes,  if  you  have  happened  to  see  any  of  them, 
will  sufficiently  speak  the  purpose  for  which  the  meeting  was  con- 
vened :  and  the  language  of  the  D.  of  P.  cannot  be  better  described, 
than  by  saying  that  it  went  to  the  full  extent  of  that  purpose.  Were 
you  to  suggest  a  speech  which  you'  could  wish  him  to  deliver  in  the 
H.  of  Lords,  you  could  not  devise  expressions  more  forcible  and 
full  than  those  which  he  made  use  of  both  upon  the  nature  of  the 
war,  the  necessity  of  carrying  it  on,  and  the  support  to  be  [given]  to 
those  who  had  the  conduct  of  it.  Excepting  the  single  instance 
which   I  have'         *         *         * 


'  which  you]  repeated  in  draft.  °  draft  incomplete. 


burke  to  windham  io5 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  35-) 

Saturday  [i  Feb.  1794]- 
My  dear  Sir, 

Mons''  de  Robrie^  as  you  know,  was  sent  on  a  special 
commission  by  the  Royalists  of  Poitou  to  this  Government.  After 
we  had  done  him  the  honour  of  a  prison  on  his  arrival,  he  was  at 
last  brought  up  under  a  King's  Messenger's  protection.  Entering 
into  London,  he  is  robbed  of  143  Guineas  and  all  his  effects,  and  has 
one  of  his  teeth  knocked  out,  by  way  of  douceur,  with  the  handle  of 
a  Pistol.  It  was  fifteen  days  after  his  arrival  before  he  could  see 
M"^  Dundas.  These  people  have  thought  proper  to  pay  him  not 
a  groat  more  than  the  value  or  thereabouts,  of  which  he  was 
robbed — and  for  the  rest  of  his  payment,  you  see  the  letter  he 
receives  from  the  great  M''  Huskkisson",  who  pays  him  off  in  glory, 
tintamarre,  drum  and  trumpet.  One  hundred  and  forty-three 
Guineas  was  a  great  sum  for  our  poor  Brethren  of  Poitou  to  furnish. 
They  clubbed  for  it,  and  many  assignats  were  necessary  to  furnish 
this  sum.  He  counts  his  Baggage  not^  to  be  worth  not  much  less 
than  forty  pound.  They  have  given  him  an  hundred  and  ten  pound. 
What  Devil  made  them  stop  there  I  cannot  conceive ;  He  was 
entitled  to  nothing,  or  to  his  loss.  This  composition  is  the  meanest 
and  foolishest  thing  I  ever  heard  of.  Surely,  if  the  Royalists,  our 
allies  and  under  our  declared  protection,  are  not  to  have  their 
Messengers  maintain'd,  by  and  by  we  can  have  no  communication 
with  them.  I  send  you  a  paper  in  the  Gusto  grande  of  our  offices. 
It  will  improve  your  style.  Let  me  have  it  again.  Can  you  call  ? 
Send  me^  the  letter  again,  if  you  cannot.      I  am  ever  aff*^^y 

y""®  &c. 

Edm.  Burke. 
You  will  of  Course  be  in  the  House  this  day. 

■  Chevalier  de  la  Robrie,  an  emissary  of  the  Vendee  general  Charette.  He  was 
driven  on  to  the  Welsh  coast  by  a  storm  and  treated  as  a  suspect  person,  see  Pelham's 
Diary,  Add.  MS.  33630,  f.  5. 

'  William  Huskisson,  afterwards  the  well-known  statesman,  had  been  appointed  to 
a  special  office  under  the  Alien  Act. 

^  Sic.  *  MS.  Send  me  have. 

B.-W.  C.  14 


io6  pelham's  diary 

In  Pelham's  Diary,  Sunday,  2  Feb.,  is  the  record  "dined  at 
Burlington  House  with  D.  of  Devon,  Lord  Mansfield,  Spencer, 
Tom  Grenville,  Windham,  W.  Ellis,  Burke,  Ch.  Townshend  and 
F.  Montagu.  We  agreed  to  meet  every  Thursday  to  consider  the 
state  of  affairs'."  From  about  this  time  Windham  appears  to  be  the 
recognised,  though  unofficial,  channel  of  communication  between  the 
French  royalists  and  the  British  Government.  On  the  5th  Pelham 
notes  "Windham  had  had  a  conference  with  Dundas  and  it  was 
settled  that  de  la  Robrie  should  have  a  small  vessel  of  36  tons,  and 
a  fast  sailer,  at  his  disposal  with  1500  stand  of  arms  and  other 
warlike  stores....  We  discussed  the  advantage  of  establishing  some 
communication  with  the  Princes  and  appointing  a  sort  of  committee 
composed  of  the  most  respectable  Frenchmen  here,  who  might  com- 
municate with  administration  or,  as  he  proposed,  with  W.  and  myself 
in  order  to  ascertain  what  Frenchmen  were  in  England,  what  their 
pursuits  were,  and  if  there  were  any  who  were  not  disposed  to  engage 
in  the  service  of  the  royalists,  to  consider  them  as  persons  that  ought 
to  be  watched,  if  not  sent  out  of  the  country."  A  little  later,  i  March, 
is  an  important  note  of  a  meeting  of  the  Portland  whigs  to  advise  the 
administration  as  to  the  subsidy  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  "  Burke 
with  his  usual  and  inimitable  sagacity  of  judgement  saw  at  once  the 
pour  et  contre.  He  said  that  the  K.  of  Prussia  would  be  against  us 
if  he  was  not  heartily  and  contentedly  with  us,  and  that  if  we  refused 
the  60,000"  upon  the  terms  he  offered  we  might  expect  he  would 
withdraw  the  40,000  and  perhaps  be  against  us,  and  that  independent 
of  the  obvious  disadvantage  of  beginning  the  campaign  with  such 
diminution  of  force  we  were  to  apprehend  the  effects  of  his  possessing 
Mayence  and  Coblentz,  by  which  he  held  the  key  of  Germany  and 
the  command  of  the  Rhine." 


'  The  whole  of  this  unpublished  diary.  Add.  MSS.  33629 — 33631  is  of  considerable 
political  interest.     It  covers  the  period  30  Nov.  1793 — 6  March  1794. 

*  Prussia  was  already  bound  by  treaty  to  supply  40,000  men  and  now  offered  to 
supply  100,000  in  consideration  of  a  subsidy  of  two  millions,  whereof  Great  Britain 
was  to  provide  two-thirds  and  also  to  be  security  for  Prussia's  own  quota  of  one-fifth. 


portland  to  windham  i07 

Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  39-) 

London, 
Wednesday,  16  April,  1794. 
Dear  Windham, 

By  wishing  to  do  too  much  I  have  the  mortification  of 
having  done  nothing.  To  own  the  truth,  I  had  a  great  desire  to  be 
authorised  to  say  that  your  presence  would  be  necessary  in  the  course 
of  the  Emigrant  Bill,  and  for  that  rea.son  postponed  my  thanks  and 
congratulations,  which  I  have  the  most  satisfactory  assurances  are 
both  equally  and  most  amply  due  to  You  for  the  Event  of  Saturday  at 
Norwich,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  Bill  has  escaped,  notwithstanding 
all  the  obstructions  with  which  it  was  threatened,  and  will  get  into 
our  House  today.  From  what  I  hear  of  it  you  have  had  a  very 
great  loss  indeed  in  missing  Burke's  speech  upon  it  on  last  Friday  ; 
there  is  not  a  Jacobine,  who  pretends  to  taste,  who  dares,  for  his  own 
sake,  to  withhold  from  it  his  full  tribute  of  applause,  and  I  understand 
it  was  given  in  Burke's  best  manner.  You  had  also  another  loss  of  a 
similar  kind  in  not  hearing  L"^  Mansfield  in  answer  to  L''  Lauderdale's 
motion  for  overhawling  the  sentences  against  Muir  and  Palmer^  He 
completely  overset  all  Lauderdale's  Facts,  his  Law,  his  Arguments, 
and  his  Inferences,  and  the  best  proof  I  can  give  you  of  its  effect  is, 
that  it  appeared  to  be  spoken  as  fast  as  any  one  could  wish,  and  that 
he  was,  after  the  first  5  minutes,  as  completely  in  possession  of  the 
attention  of  his  audience  as  any  speaker  ever  was  upon  any  occasion. 
Accounts  have  been  received  today  from  Sir  Cha**  Grey,  dated  the 
15*^  March  from  the  camp  before  Cape  Bourbon,  in  which  he  says 
that  the  whole  Island  of  Martinico  is  in  his  possession  excepting  the 
Forts  Bourbon  and  Royal,  that  the  latter  it  was  in  his  power  to  take 
whenever  he  judged  it  necessary,  but  wishing  to  preserve  the  former 
he  should  be  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  proceed  to  that  extremity — since 
his  landing  he  has  lost  in  killed  71,  and  in  wounded  193 — and  3 
missing.  I  suppose  long  before  this  the  English  Flag  flies  every- 
where in  that  Island.  Would  to  God  I  could  see  the  true  French 
colours  hoisted  in  Nantes,  S*"  Malo's  or  in  any  town  in  old  France  ; 

'  Sentenced  to  transportation  for  sedition. 

14 — 2 


I08  PORTLAND   TO    WINDHAM 

this  wish  leads  me  naturally  to  represent  to  you  that  during  your 
absence  from  hence  the  poor  Royalists  will  not  have  a  friend,  at  least 
not  one  that  can  say  a  word  for  them  to  Ministers,  or  who  can 
support  the  only  cause  that  can  be  successfull  ;  for  sure  I  am,  that 
neither  the  capture  of  Martinico  nor  of  all  the  French  Possessions  in 
the  West  Indies  will  have  any  effect  here,  or  do  one  hundredth  part 
of  the  service  which  the  Common  Cause  would  derive  from  the  real 
French  Army  in  the  Vendee.  Pray  hold  yourself  engaged  to  dine 
with  me  the  first  Trial  Day  after  the  Holidays,  and  I  will  ask  some 
true  Royalist  to  meet  you.     The  Clock  strikes  six. 

Yours  ever 
P. 


Richard    Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  37-) 

[Endorsed,  /une,   1794] 

My  dear  Sir, 

My  father  does  not  seem  much  pleased  with  the  idea  of 
the  letter  you  mention'd,  and  which  before  I  saw  you  this  morning 
I  did  not  conceive  the  nature  of  However  complimentary,  it  can  be 
considered  in  fact  as  little  more  than  a  compliment.  With  regard  to 
the  lateness  of  the  session  Parliament  has  already  been  adjourned  for 
a  week,  during  which  time  the  business  might  have  been  done.  To 
say  the  truth,  if  some  vote  is  not  passed  this  session  on  the  subject, 
Nothing  is  done.  Should  it  be  found  impracticable  to  do  any  thing 
by  vote  this  session,  that  becomes  a  conclusive  reason  why  the 
peerage  should  be  given  ;  since  nothing  else  can  be  conceived  to 
give  a  solid  security  or  an  earnest  in  public  estimation  tor  a  future 
provision.  This,  with  the  letter  (to  which  it  would  give  a  real 
assurance),  w^^  certainly  be  sufficient. 

yours  &c. 

R.  Burke, 


burke  to  windham  io9 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-   39-) 

Tuesday  night  \/une  10,  1794]. 
My  dear  friend — much  Joy  to  you  on  this  Naval  Victory' — tho' 
very  dearly  bought.  Can  you  be  down  pretty  early  tomorrow  morn- 
ing ?  I  am  quite  ashamed  of  putting  you  to  such  tasks — but  the 
facility  and  nobleness  with  which  you  submit  to  friendly  offices  and 
the  more  triffling  parts  of  Duty  have  no  small  Effect  on  mine  and 
some  other  minds. 

Gods!    with  what  nameless  grace  the  generous  Mind 
Performs  whate'er  its  virtue  has  designed. 

It  is  Dryden  translating  some  verses  on  Plutarch.     God  bless  you 
and  again  Joy  which  shoots  across  the  gloom. 

yrs  ever 

E.  Burke. 


Richard    Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  41.) 

June  19,   1794. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  communication  of  the 
intentions  of  Gov*^  with  regard  to  my  father,  which,  as  far  as  the 
pecuniary  consideration  goes,  are  fully  adequate  to  my  wishes.  But 
I  cannot  help  expressing  my  surprise  that  there  should  be  any  thing 
like  a  demur  with  regard  to  the  peerage.  It  is  not  that  I  lay  much 
stress  on  what  Sir  G.  Elliot  conveyed  to  him  from  the  Ministers  on 
that  subject.  I  think  his  pretensions  stand  upon  grounds  much 
stronger  than  any  promises  actual  or  implied.  The  terms  used  to 
Sir  G.  Elliot  might  have  been  general,  tho'  he  seem'd  to  attatch 
a  particular  sense  to  them.  They  were  certainly  however  not  such 
as  to  imply  that  the  Ministers  had  very  mean  ideas  with  regard  to 
my  father,  and  I  did  not  conceive  that  what  was  consider'd  as  a  debt 

'  Lord  Howe's  victory,   i  June. 


no  R.    BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

due  from  the  country  and  due  to  the  opinion  of  Europe  at  large, 
could  be  less  than  the  peerage.  However  it  is  for  the  Ministers  to 
judge  what  they  will  do  or  not  do.  It  is  a  matter  absolutely  in  their 
own  breasts.  It  would  be  as  ridiculous  for  my  father  at  this  time  of 
day  to  haggle  about  the  recompence  for  his  services,  as  it  would  have 
[been]  absurd  in  the  Ministers  to  chaffer  with  him  about  the  price 
before  those  services  were  render'd ;  services  [for]  which  if  the  effects 
of  them  could  have  been  foreseen  or  could  have  been  bargain'd  for,  (if 
he  was  a  man  capable  of  bargaining)  I  do  not  believe  any  rewards 
the  country  has  to  bestow  would  have  been  thought  too  much.  But 
in  the  retrospect  things  have  a  different  appearance,  especially  when 
impressions  are  no  longer  fresh,  and  when  the  man  is  going  off  the 
stage  and  can  be  of  use  no  further.  It  is  therefore  not  unnatural 
that  difficulties  should  be  made.  I  confess  that  if  the  thing  were  to 
be  judged  of  in  the  abstract,  if  my  mother  was  not  concern'd,  and  if 
the  arrangement  of  his  affairs  did  not  imply  the  sale  of  his  place  in 
the  country  (in  which  so  much  of  his  as  well  as  my  mother's  satis- 
factions are  involved)  I  should  certainly  agree  with  you,  that  it  would 
be  more  becoming  the  place  and  character  m.y  father  sustains  in  the 
world — foregoing  all  expectations  from  the  public — to  cut  himself 
down  to  the  measure  of  his  means  (which,  however  moderate,  are 
more  than  human  necessities  require)  than  to  consent  to  have  his 
services,  which  now  stand  in  the  first  order,  set  down  by  a  secondary 
reward  at  a  secondary  standard.  As  matters  stand  however,  some 
sacrifice  of  dignity  must  be  made  to  ease.  And  tho'  I  think  he  might 
expect  an  otiuni  aim  dignitate,  and  that  the  peerage  is  not  more  than 
his  due,  if  I  may  say,  the  specific  reward  appropriate  to  his  peculiar 
services,  yet  if  the  Ministers  think  otherwise  and  think  that  services 
like  his  can  be  paid  in  money — as  far  as  my  vote  goes,  I  shall  advise 
him  to  submit,  and  I  see  nothing  else  for  him  to  do  but  to  take  what 
is  given  him  with  thankfulness  and  with  as  good  a  grace  as  he  can. 

I  cannot  think  that  the  Ministers  have  sufficiently  consider'd,  or 
that  it  can  be  their  intention  that  what  they  do  should  lose  so  much 
of  its  grace  and  effect  with  regard  to  the  public,  by  what  they  with- 
hold ;  or  that  they  have  reflected  what  will  be  thought,  when  it  comes 
to  be  known  that  this  was  an  object  to  my  father  and  that  it  was 


R.    BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  I  I  I 

refused  on  any  grounds  whatsoever.  If  they  do  not  give  it  to  him, 
for  God's  sake,  for  what  kind  of  services  is  it  reserved,  unless  it's 
determined  that  it  should  never  be  given  to  civil  service,  or  only 
follow  in  the  common  line  of  official  promotion  ?  Who[m]  do  they 
mean  to  make  peers  of  in  future  ?  I  say  nothing  with  regard  to 
the  past,  tho'  I  believe  some  might  be  found  on  the  list  whose 
services  are  not  more  brilliant  or  their  fortune  more  ample  than  his. 
Indeed  if  it  were  a  subject  fit  for  me  to  discuss,  I  might  compare  his 
services  for  effect  and  public  benefit,  with  those  of  any  single  man 
since  the  restoration.  However  this  may  end,  I  shall  never  forget 
your  active  friendship  on  the  occasion.  And  depend  upon  it  that 
He  is  sufficiently  a  philosopher,  not  only  to  bear  the  want  of  any 
reward  at  all,  but  perhaps  what  is  more  difficult,  chearfully  to  acquiesce 
in  that  which  does  not  come  to  his  ideas.     Believe  me 

most  truly 

yours  &c. 

R.   B. 


Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.   37845,  f.  4I-) 

Thursday  night,  ^  July  1794. 
near  12  o'clock. 

Dear  Windham, 

My  company  had  separated  just  before  your  Letter 
arrived,  as  you  may  probably  know  already  by  having  seen 
L*^  Spencer  and  Grenville,  who  intended  to  call  upon  you  in  their 
way  home.  I  now  regret  your  absence  much  more  than  I  could  have 
imagined  I  could  have  had  any  reason  to  do,  because,  from  what 
I  learn 'd  from  Grenville,  I  concluded  that  your  mind  was  made  up  to 
become  a  member  of  Cabinet  and  that  the  mode  was  become  to  you 
a  very  secondary  consideration.  I  can  not  but  wish  you  to  reconsider 
this  question,  and  to  recollect  that  I  may  be  under  the  necessity  of 
bringing  your  doubts  forward  tomorrow  in  a  place  where  I  should  be 


I  1 2  PORTLAND   TO   WINDHAM 

very  sorry  that  any  ground  could  be  given  for  suspicion  or  appre- 
hension of  backwardness  in  any,  and  more  particularly  in  so 
conspicuous  a  Leader  on  our  side  as  You  certainly  are.  It  would 
be  idle  to  attempt  to  refute  arguments  of  which  I  am  ignorant. 
But  I  can  not  help  asking  whether  the  Opponent  to  your  coming  into 
Administration  considered  that  measure  in  its  bearings  upon  the 
general  credit  and  character  and  interest  of  the  Cause,  and  did  give 
and  was  capable  of  giving  its  due  weight  and  appretiating  the  differ- 
ence of  the  Office  of  Sec'^  of  War  as  merely  ministerial,  or  being 
a  real  efficient  Cabinet  employment,  upon  which  my  opinion  of  the 
propriety  of  your  acceptance  of  it,  principally,  if  not  wholly,  rests  and 
depends.  There  are  persons,  very  wise  and  virtuous  friends  of  ours, 
and  most  active  and  zealous  supporters  of  the  Cause  of  Government, 
who  endeavoured  to  make  Lord  Fitzwilliam  refuse  to  take  an  active 
part  in  Administration.  But  they  could  not  succeed. — I  devoutly 
pray  that  further  reflection  will  make  them  equally  unsuccessfull  in 
your  case. 

most  sincerely 

yours  ever 

P. 

You  will  not  forget  that  I  must  be  at  S'  James  s  tomorrow  by 
half  past  12. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FIRST    PERIOD   OF   THE   COALITION.      FITZVVILLIAM 
AND    IRELAND. 

On  20  July  1794  Burke  received  the  thanks  of  the  House  of 
Commons  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  Warren  Hastings  impeachment, 
and  directly  afterwards  retired  finally  from  parliament.  The  ultimate 
arrangement  in  regard  to  a  pecuniary  reward  was  a  pension  from  the 
Crown,  not,  as  he  would  have  preferred,  a  grant  by  parliament.  On 
II  July,  the  day  of  the  prorogation\  was  matured  the  scheme  for 
incorporation  of  the  Portland  whigs  in  the  ministry.  The  arrange- 
ment was  as  follows  : 

Duke  of  Portland,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department, 
vice  Dundas'. 

Earl  Spencer,  Privy  Seal,  vice  Marquis  of  Stafford. 

Earl  Fitzwilliam,  President  of  Council,  vice  Earl  Camden. 

Windham,  Secretary  at  War',  vice  Sir  George  Yonge. 

Loughborough  had  been  Chancellor  since  28  Jan.  and  Sir  Gilbert 
Elliot,  as  we  have  seen,  was  employed  abroad.  The  scheme  there- 
fore was  presumably  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  fulfil  the  Duke's 
notion  of  a  real  basis,  except  in  one  particular,  that  of  Ireland  ;  and 
in  that  respect  the  arrangement  was  understood  to  be  left  open  to 
further  changes  as  soon  as  certain  hindrances  to  an  immediate  settle- 
ment could  be  removed.  To  try  to  state  exactly  the  nature  of  these 
impediments,  and  of  the  understanding  as  to  what  was  to  take  place 
upon  their  removal,  is  to  plunge  into  a  matter  of  acute  controversy, 
in  which  we  may  more  readily  discern  in  the  character  of  the  actors 

^  The  actual  date  of  Earl  Spencer's  appointment  was  a  few  days  later. 
"^  Who  had  previously  combined  this  office  with  the  Board  of  Control. 
"'  But  with  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.     Yonge  was  made  Master  of  the  Mint. 

B.-W.  C.  15 


114  CHANGES    IN    MINISTRY 

the  impossibility  of  their  co-operation,  than  we  can  reconcile  their 
statements  as  to  the  matters  of  fact  which  were  in  dispute  in  the 
following  letters.  Pitt,  we  are  told,  had  promised  Lord  Westmorland, 
the  present  Lord  Lieutenant,  before  he  went  to  Ireland,  to  give  him 
on  his  return  a  dignity  equal  to  that  which  he  had  previously  held, 
viz.  the  Postmastership,  and  until  this  could  be  arranged  was  not  at 
liberty  to  recall  him\  Portland,  we  are  also  informed,  had  been 
most  anxious  to  go  to  Ireland  himself  and  when,  under  his  friends' 
representations  that  a  subordinate  position  (for  Ireland  was  subject  to 
the  Home  Department)  was  not  admissible  for  their  leader,  he  con- 
sented to  abandon  this  project,  he  at  once  thought  of  Fitzwilliam  for 
the  ofifice^  The  problem  is  why  in  these  circumstances  it  should  not 
have  been  proposed  at  once  that  Westmorland  should  have  the 
Presidency  of  the  Council  and  thus  leave  Ireland  free  to  Fitzwilliam. 
This  was  in  fact  the  arrangement  proposed  by  Pitt  in  October,  and 
rejected  by  Portland,  who  wished  to  give  the  Presidency  to  Lord 
Mansfield ^  but  it  then  seems  to  come  forward  as  a  new  suggestion. 
We  are  told  that  at  Portland's  first  proposal  Fitzwilliam  had  been 
unwilling  to  go  at  once  for  domestic  reasons,  but  it  is  clear  that  these 
were  not  of  a  nature  to  make  any  long  delay  necessary,  and  within  a 
month  (early  in  August)  we  find  that  Fitzwilliam  is  busy  making- 
arrangements  with  his  Irish  friends  as  if  his  going  were  beyond  all 
doubt,  while  Pitt  still  regards  the  matter  as  unsettled  and  looks 
upon  Fitzwilliam 's  proceedings  as  equally  premature  and  ill-judged. 
Possibly,  in  leaving  the  matter  open,  Pitt,  whose  own  choice  of  a 
Whig  Lord  Lieutenant  would  have  been  Lord  Spencer,  still  hoped 
that  Portland  would  find  a  colleague  upon  whose  discretion  he  could 
better  depend.  His  misgivings  as  to  Fitzwilliam  were  probably 
shared  by  Windham.  At  any  rate  there  is  evidence  in  the  Diary 
that  Windham  regarded  the  settlement  of  July  as  in  some  way  very 
unsatisfactory.  After  mentioning  under  4  July  the  offer  of  "the 
place  which  I  at  present  hold  "  he  continues  on  the  5th  "  Went  before 
breakfast  to  Grenville  and  afterwards  to  Burke's,  and  afterwards  to 

•  Letter  of  Elliot  of  Wells  to  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  Life  and  Letters  of  Minto,  u.  p.  387. 
"  Letter  of  Lord  Mansfield,  12  Oct.  1794. 
'  Elliot's  letter,  as  above. 


CHANGES    IN    MINISTRY  115 

Burlington  House,  where  I  relinquished  the  objection  made  in  my 
letter  of  the  night  before  and  contented  myself  with  apprising  the 
Duke  with  what  I  conceived  to  be  the  misunderstanding.  Engaged 
to  dine  with  M""  Ellis  at  Twickenham.  Fell  in  with  Lord  Spencer 
on  the  road  and  proceeded  in  his  carriage.  At  this  time  all  seemed 
likely  to  be  at  an  end,  it  being  found  that  what  I  apprehended  had 
completely  taken  place.  6*^'^  I  found  a  message  from  the  Duke,  and 
the  conference  that  succeeded  was  of  the  most  important  nature.  It 
continued  till  two  in  the  morning  and  ended  in  a  way  that  left  me  full 
of  regret  and  dissatisfaction.  Grenville  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  from 
whom  I  parted  at  the  top  of  Berkeley  Square,  went  on  together 
without  my  feeling  any  wish  to  continue  of  their  party."  In  the 
meantime  Spencer,  very  soon  after  taking  office,  had  been  sent  on  a 
special  mission  to  Vienna,  and  at  the  end  of  August  Windham  also 
went  abroad  to  convey  "the  resolution  of  the  Cabinet"  to  the  Duke 
of  York,  Upon  his  return  he  found  the  difficulties  of  Ireland  revived 
in  the  acute  form  already  described. 

Before  these  events  took  place  Burke  had  suffered  by  the  death, 
on  2  Aug.,  of  his  son  Richard,  aged  thirty-six,  the  loss  of  one  in 
whom  were  centred  not  only  his  domestic  happiness  but  also  his 
political  hopes.  Richard  had  succeeded  his  father  as  M.P.  for 
Malton  on  18  July  and  was  in  expectation,  it  would  seem,  of  some 
office'.  At  any  rate,  as  his  father's  representative  he  must  have  been 
a  person  of  some  consequence  in  Parliament,  although  it  is  plain 
from  Elliot's  private  letters  and  Windham's  Diary  that  he  had  as  yet 
failed  to  secure  the  general  confidence  of  the  party. 


'  This  seems  hinted,  but  I  think  no  definite  statement  exists. 


15- 


il6  spencer  to  windham 

Earl   Spencer   to  Windham. 

(Add.   MS.  37845,  f.  127.) 

Vienna, 

Aug.  12,  1794. 
Dear  Windham 

I  ought  to  have  written  to  you  a  long  while  ago,  but  my 

journey  so  entirely  turned  my  head,  and  the  occupation  I  have  had 

since  I  have  been  here  has  filled  up  so  much  of  my  time  that  I  have 

not  been  able  till  this  moment,  and  in  chusing  this  moment  for  the 

purpose  I  do  not  treat  you  very  well,  for  I  am  more  than  half  asleep, 

having  been  the  whole  evening  plodding  over  the  long  Letter  which 

you  will  have  the  reading  of  from  us  in  the  Cabinet,  which  will  very 

probably  produce  something  of  the  like  effect  on  the  Readers  as  it 

has  on  the  Writers  of  it ;  at  least  I  am  sure,  if  you  read  it,  as  we 

wrote  it,  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  it  cannot  fail  of  doing  so. 

You  will  see  by  the  Contents  of  it,  what  a  long  way  we  are  come  to 

do,  as  far  as  it  seems,  very  little,  and  you  will  not  fail  I  daresay  to 

observe  that  as  we  have  been  driving  for  nothing,  we  are  determined 

you  shall   have  at  least  a  long  reading   for  nothing.      However  as 

I  am  sure  you  will  have  had  enough  of  our  dispatch  already,  I  will 

not  give  you  a  bad  hash  of  it  in  my  letter. 

I   promised  Sir  Sidney  Smith  to  write  to  you  something  about 

what  he  calls  his  Ideas,  but  my  own  Ideas  have  really  been  so  turned 

and  twisted  and  jumbled  about  ever  since,  that  I  protest  his  have 

been  pretty   nearly   shaken   out  oi  my  head  ;   in   general   however, 

I  remember  he  said  a  good  deal  about  French  coasting  Ships,  which 

by  their  being  very  flat  bottomed  can  row  in  shoal  water  where  none 

of  our  Ships  of  War  can  follow  them,  and  of  course  he  is  very  desirous 

of  having  a  fleet  of  flat  bottomed  Vessels  at  his  Command,  to  go  and 

knock  them  all  to  pieces.      He  does  not  seem  to  think  much  of  the 

Scheme  about  Calais,  but  he  has  an  Idea  that  something  might  be 

done  at  Havre  ;  he  is  certainly  an  odd  eccentrick  man,  but  he  is  very 

clever,  and  has  a  great  deal  of  contrivance  about  him,  and  if  he  could 

any  how  be  put  into  activity  without  giving  offence  to  more  regular 

and  orderly  sort  of  Geniuses,  who  I  believe  all  look  upon  him  as  a 


SPENCER   TO    WINDHAM  I17 

Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  does  upon  a  Quack  Doctor,  he 
might  be  of  great  service. 

I  cannot  write  this  without  telling  how  very  much  both  L^  S.  and 
myself  are  obliged  to  you  for  your  very  kind  and  friendly  offer,  which 
she  tells  me  you  made  her  the  other  day,  of  an  Ensigncy  in  the 
Guards  ;  we  are  both  as  much  obliged  to  you  as  if  we  had  been  in 
the  way  of  availing  ourselves  of  it,  and  I  am  very  glad  it  happened 
so,  as  it  gave  you  an  opportunity  of  multiplying  your  satisfaction  by 
obliging  somebody  else  besides  us  on  the  occasion. 

Adieu,  dear  Windham,  I  wish  much  to  be  at  home  again  and 
among  you  all.  I  feel  quite  out  of  my  Element  here,  and  though 
I  don't  know  how  much  I  might  be  in  my  Element  if  I  were  at  home 
in  my  new  situation  there,  yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  I  should  be 
rather  less  of  a  Bear  in  a  Boat  than  I  feel  myself  in  this  still  newer 
character  of  a  Negotiator. 

Yours  ever  sincerely 

Spencer. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Burke  Corn  iv.  227.) 

Aug-  15,  1794- 
A  Strange  and  unfounded  report,  I  find,  is  rife  all  over  Ireland, 
that  I  am  to  be  made  Provost  of  the  University  of  Dublin.  If  my 
Richard  had  lived,  for  whom  alone  I  could  bear  to  take  any  charge. 
I  would  not  accept  it  on  any  account.  But  it  is  not  for  that  reason 
I  mention  it,  but  most  earnestly  and  pressingly  to  put  it  to  your 
conscience,  not  to  suffer  this  great,  important,  and  (just  now)  most 
critical  of  all  trusts  to  be  jobbed  away  in  any  manner  whatsoever.  It 
ought  not  to  be  suffered  to  enter  into  any  sort  of  political  arrange- 
ment. Religion,  law  and  order  depend  upon  this  more  than  upon 
anything  I  know.  You  ought  to  be  informed  that  the  University 
sent  over  a  deputation  of  their  most  respectable  members  to  remon- 
strate upon  an  arrangement  contrary  to  the  statutes  which  was  some 
time  ago  in   agitation.     The   Provostship  ought  to  be  given  to  a 


Il8  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

member  only  of  the  body ;  and,  for  a  thousand  reasons,  only  to  an 
ecclesiastic.  There  are  indeed  few  others  in  the  body.  The  dispen- 
sation from  the  statutes  (a  power  unfortunately  reserved  to  the 
crown)  as  exercised  must  be  considered  as  a  great  abuse,  and  never 
was  designed  for  such  purposes.  The  body,  I  assure  you,  contains 
persons  of  great  solidity,  great  erudition,  and  very  enlarged  and 
capable  minds ;  and,  in  that  body,  I  trust  none  will  be  chosen  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Irish  government,  but  that  the  sense  of  the 
body  itself  should  guide  the  choice.  I  have  no  favourite,  no  con- 
nexion, political  or  personal,  to  warp  my  judgment  on  this  point. 
The  thing  must  pass  through  the  Duke  of  Portland  ;  and  I  implore 
his  grace,  who,  I  know,  loves  religion,  morality,  and  real  learning, 
and  has  so  great  a  trust  in  one  great  seminary  of  the  Church  of 
Ertgland,  that  he  will  not  suffer  another  to  be  perverted  from  its 
purposes  by  any  dispensations.  The  sure  way  is  to  follow  the  guide 
which  ordinary  law  gives.  There  a  man  is  always  at  least  justified. 
The  law  is  wiser  than  cabal  or  interest.  This  will  do  credit  to  the 
Duke  of  Portland's  administration.  God  direct  him  and  all  of  you. 
If  I  saw  you,  I  could  say  much  more  on  this  subject,  for  though  my 
heart  is  very  sick,  it  has  still  these  things  in  it. 


Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  43) 

Sunday,  Aug'-  17,   1794. 
Beconsfield. 
My  dear  Sir 

I  always  knew  you  to  have  a  mind  formed  for  generosity 
and  friendship,  and  I  have  now  experienced  it  in  the  way  of  all  others 
most  acceptable  to  me,  that  is  in  your  protection  of  Woodford'.  My 
Richard  was  very  sollicitous  for  his  establishment ;  and  the  employ- 

^  Emperor  John  Alexander  Woodford,  appointed  by  Windham  to  be  Inspector 
General  of  Foreign  Corps  in  the  pay  of  Great  Britain.  He  held  the  office  till  1801, 
and  enjoyed  Windham's  full  confidence;  but  in  1809,  after  the  exposure  of  certain 
abuses  in  contracts,  in  which  his  connivance  was  asserted,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  leave  the  country. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  I  19 

merit  which  you  have  so  very  kindly  bestowed  upon  him,  entitHng 
him  to  half  pay,  puts  him  out  of  anxiety  for  the  future.  It  will  be 
a  satisfaction  to  you  to  know,  that  besides  giving  to  my  mind  and 
poor  Mrs  Burke's  a  solid  comfort,  you  serve  a  young  man  of  very 
great  honour  and  great  good  nature  as  well  as  of  excellent  Talents 
and  much  activity.  There  will  appear  in  nothing  you  have  done 
any  the  least  Trace  of  blind  partiality.  He  is  too  the  son  of  an 
excellent  father  (of  whom  however  I  have  not  much  personal  know- 
ledge), and  who  is,  1  believe,  of  remarkable  ability  in  his  profession, 
I  mean  Col.  Woodford.  If  he  is  what  I  hear  of  him,  he  is  a  sort  of 
man  to  be  look'd  to,  for  I  fear  we  are  not  over  rich  in  soldiership. 
Again  a  thousand  thanks  for  what  you  have  done  for  his  son. 

I  have  been  talking  with  our  excellent  D""  Walker  King'  (who 
having  been  several  times  in  Ireland  with  his  father,  the  Dean  of 
Raphoe,  has  very  just  notions  concerning  that  Country)  about  the 
University.  He  tells  me,  indeed  concurrently  with  the  universal 
opinion,  that  D""  Murray  has  for  several  years  governed  the  College 
as  Vice-provost  with  the  greatest  credit,  and  indeed  saved  it  from 
utter  ruin;  and  that  he  is  in  the  highest  Esteem  with  the  whole  body. 
Now  he  is  in  the  order  of  Gradation  and  would  possess  no  power  but 
what  in  effect  he  has  long  exercised  ;  this  would  cut  off  all  cabal 
and  all  bickering,  and  be  a  plain  and  simple  answer  to  every  kind  of 
unstatutable  applications  from  without  and  to  all  intrigues  from 
within ;  not  but  that  I  believe,  if  the  place  were  elective,  they  would 
choose  of  themselves  this  respectable  Divine.  Be  sure,  my  dear 
friend,  that  I  do  not  meddle  in  this  affair  from  any  predilection  to 
persons  :  I  do  not  know  D'"  Murray  personally.  If  I  have  any  thing 
personal  in  it,  it  is  my  earnest  desire  that  every  thing  done  in  the 
Duke  of  Portland's  department  should  be  done  to  his  honour. 

Adieu,  my  dear  Sir,  pardon  all  the  perhaps  improper  Liberties 
of  your  unhappy  but  most  true  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 


Afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester,  grandfather  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 


I20  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 


Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  45-) 

Beaconsfield,  Sept.   28',   1794. 

My  dear  Sir 

This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  M''^  Douglas  Johnston. 
I  understand  she  is  the  widow  of  an  old  and  very  meritorious  officer 
who  has  not  long  since  lost  his  life  in  the  service,  and  that  too  in  the 
exercise  of  acts  of  humanity  in  an  extraordinary  personal  attention 
to  the  sick  during  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemick  fever  amongst  the 
Soldiers  under  his  Command.  I  am  perswaded  that  you  will  think 
that  Cases  of  this  kind  demand  a  very  particular  degree  of  favour 
and  protection  ;  and  that  nothing  can  so  effectually  reconcile  your 
mind  to  the  many  unpleasant  circumstances  that  you  must  meet  in 
your  Office,  as  the  opportunities  it  sometimes  affords  of  shewing  an 
humane  requitable  consideration  of  those  whose  Case  is  in  general 
hard  enough.  The  families  of  those,  the  very  nature  of  whose 
services  tends  particularly  to  leave  them  fatherless,  will,  in  your  Eye, 
be  intitled  to  all  the  favour  in  the  nature  of  things  possible.  It 
would  be  to  mark,  what  is  of  all  things  furthest  from  my  Mind, 
a  distrust  of  the  Benevolence  of  yours,  if  I  pressed  the  matter 
further.  M'"'^  Johnston  will  herself  wait  upon  you,  and  state  the 
particulars  of  her  situation  and  the  Object  of  her  request. 

I  am  ever  with  the  greatest  respect  and  affection 
My  d''  Sir,  your  most  faithful 

and  most  obliged  humble  Ser* 
Edm.   Burke. 


1794. 


burke  to  windham  121 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  47) 

Nerot's  Hotel,  Tuesday  afternoon. 
{Oct.  7,  1794.] 
My  DEAR  Friend, 

Knowing  your  intentions  with  regard  to  a  speedy  return, 
I  have  not  been  without  uneasiness  from  the  late  violent  Winds,  for 
I  am  still  susceptible  of  fears  and  apprehensions.  Thank  God 
however  that  this  is  removed,  and  that  you  are  safe  in  London. 
I  am  in  London  too.  I  am  told  that  after  the  Grant  of  a  Pension 
from  the  Crown  decorum  requires  that  I  should  go  to  the  Levee. 
Not  the  acknowledgement,  which  I  have  as  much  satisfaction  in 
making  as  I  can  have  in  anything,  but  the  going  to  a  public  place 
is  pretty  painful  to  me.  However,  here  I  am  to  perform  this  act  of 
Duty.  If  you  can  call,  I  shall  be  happy  to  see — not  to  talk  to  you 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Continent  which  you  have  left,  and  from  w'^^  no 
good  news,  I  fear,  will  ever  come — but  merely  to  take  you  by  the 
hand  and  congratulate  you  on  your  return  to  your  Native  Land,  which 
is  the  best  of  all  and  will  I  trust  be  the  last  devoured.  Late  may  it 
be,  but  eo-crtrai  -^fjiapK — Adieu.      I  am  ever  affectionately 

Y*"  unhappy  friend 

Edm.  Burke, 


Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  49-) 

Ocf.  8,  1794,  Wednesday. 
My  dear  Sir, 

You  have,  among  the  many  wise  and  honourable  things 

you  have  done,  done  nothing  more  wise  nor  more  respectable  to  you 

than  the  establishment  of  the  Comte  D' Hector's  Corps'.     There  is 

a  man  who,  upon  every  principle  by  which  you  have  been  actuated, 

'  I/iad  VI.  448. 

^  Composed  of  royalists  from  the  French  navy. 
B.-w.  c.  16 


122  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

whether  of  true  military  policy,  Humanity  or  generosity,  is  recom- 
mended to  your  attention  ;  that  is  the  celebrated  Albert  de  Rioms', 
without  dispute  the  first  naval  Commander  in  France.  His  reputation 
is  perhaps  enough.  But  our  friend  the  Comte  de  la  Tour  du  Pin, 
himself  a  naval  man  of  great  Knowledge  as  well  as  of  Science  in  most 
branches,  will  say  more  to  you  on  the  Subject.  I  never  apologise  to 
you  for  putting  you  in  mind  of  those  who  can  add  efificiency  and  lustre 
to  the  publick  service  and  do  honour  to  yourself.  On  the  contrary, 
this  is  one  of  the  best  ways  I  have  of  shewing  my  sense  of  our 
friendship  and  of  my  many  obligations  to  you.      Ever,  my  dear  Sir, 

Y^  unhappy  faithful  friend 

Edm.   Burke. 
I  go  out  of  town  today. 


Fitzwilliam's  indiscretion,  in  openly  announcing,  at  a  time  when 
his  own  appointment  was  not  yet  made,  or  even  publicly  promised, 
the  comprehensive  alterations  which  he  intended  to  make  in  the 
persons  of  the  Irish  administration,  brought  on  an  acute  crisis 
immediately  after  Windham's  return.  Pitt  was  obliged  to  make 
it  clear  that  such  measures  as  the  removal  of  the  Irish  Chancellor, 
Lord  Fitzgibbon,  were  not  contemplated  in  the  agreement  with 
Portland. 


Earl   Fitzwilliam   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37874,  f.  83.) 

Grosvenor  Sq.,  Ocf  II,  1794. 
Dear  Windham, 

As  we  enter'd  into  administration  together  and  professedly 
as  members  of  one  corps,  I  must  not  take  the  very  important  step  of 
retiring  from  Administration  without  giving  you  the  earliest  notice 
of  my  intentions  and  my  reasons  for  doing  so — stripp'd  of  the  history 

'  Fran9ois  (or  Charles?)  Hector  d' Albert  de  Rioms. 


FITZWILLIAM    TO   WINDHAM  1 23 

of  the  transactions  which  led  to  my  suppos'd  destination  to  Ireland, 
all  the  particulars  of  which  you  are  full  as  intimately  acquainted  with 
as  I  am,  nay,  better,  so  much  of  the  previous  negociation  having 
pass'd  through  your  hands,  the  story  is  not  very  long.  I  believe 
(but  I  am  not  quite  sure)  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  go  to  Ireland, 
but  this  permission  is  under  conditions  ;  and  the  conditions  are  in 
substance  :  that  I  step  into  L^  Westmoreland's  old  shoes — that  I  put 
on  the  old  trappings,  and  submit  to  the  old  chains.  The  men,  and  of 
consequence  the  system  of  measures,  to  remain  the  same,  with  or 
without  my  approbation,  and  without  any  consideration  for  my 
responsibility  to  the  King,  the  country,  and  my  own  reputation — 
these  are  now  the  terms.  Will  any  man  say,  would  any  man  have 
presum'd  to  have  said  last  July,  that  at  that  time,  when  upon 
negociation  the  management  of  Ireland  was  transfer'd  to  the  care 
of  the  D.  of  P.,  these  were  the  terms  or  the  spirit  of  the  terms  ?  For 
the  safety  and  general  good  of  Ireland,  in  my  humble  opinion,  they 
should  not  be  insisted  on  ;  for  the  honor  of  the  Individual  they  must 
be  rejected  by  me  ;  and  looking  upon  the  proposal  as  a  mark  of 
indignity  offer'd  to  me,  it  would  be  fit  for  me  to  mark  my  sense 
of  it.  But  still  what  affects  myself  does  not  weigh  most  with  me : 
in  consequence  of  the  certainty  I  entertain'd  of  going  to  Ireland 
I  thought  it  a  duty  to  look  forward  to  the  management  of  the 
Country,  and  therefore  invited  the  most  respectable  persons  of  the 
Kingdom  to  communicate  confidentially  with  me ;  and  upon  the 
credit  of  the  situation  I  held  myself  out  as  intended  to  fill,  I  found 
them  willing  to  let  me  into  many  of  their  private  thoughts  and 
opinions  upon  such  things  as  I  think  they  would  not  have  open'd 
themselves  upon  under  other  circumstances.  To  them  I  feel  myself 
bound  in  honor  to  atone  for  having  misled  them ;  to  my  own  character 
I  am  bound  to  make  clear  in  the  most  unequivocal  and  most  overt 
manner  that  if  I  have  misled  and  duped,  I  have  done  so  because  I 
was  misled  and  duped  myself  No  act  will  be  so  overt,  none  will  so 
unequivocally  mark  a  sense  of  indignity  and  resentment,  as  a  retreat 
from  that  Government  which  I  charge  with  having  duped  me.  In 
these  sentiments  and  for  these  purposes  I  mean  to  take  the  earliest 
opportunity  of   entreating  his  Majesty's  permission  to  give  in   my 

16 — 2 


124  FITZWILLIAM    TO   WINDHAM 

resignation.  The  D.  of  P.  and  L**  Mansfield  are  both  acquainted 
with  my  intention.  L*^  Spencer's  great  distance  prevents  my  com- 
municating it  to  him. 

Sincerely  yours 

Wentworth  Fitzwilliam. 


Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  47-) 

Saturday,  ii   Oct".  1794. 

7    P.M. 

Dear  Windham, 

I  have  seen  L^  Fitzwilliam,  and  He  has  written  already 
to  Ponsonby  and  Grattan  to  inform  them  of  his  determination,  or  at 
least  to  appoint  them  to  meet  Him  for  that  purpose  tomorrow. — To 
crown  the  whole,  when  I  came  home,  I  found  a  letter  from  Douglas' 
to  King  desiring  to  know  what  progress  the  King's  Letters  were  in, 
which  appointed  Him  Sec"^  of  State  and  the  Bp.  of  Cloyne"  Provost, 
and  urging  King  to  forward  them,  as  he  (Douglas)  intended  setting 
out  for  Ireland  on  Monday  or  Tuesday  if  the  above  should  permit : 
the  whole  of  this  must  be  stopped  and  given  up,  and  the  other 
conditions  so  arranged  as  to  ensure  that  being  complied  with  in 
a  reasonable  time,  or  I  must  see  Pitt  tomorrow  or  make  an  appoint- 
ment with  Him  for  the  next  day,  to  desire  Him  to  apprize  the  King 
that  I  think  it  my  duty  to  lay  the  Seals  at  His  Majesty's  feet  the 
first  time  He  comes  to  town.  I  am  very  sorry  for  it — and  devoutly 
wish  I  had  never  come  into  Office. 

Yours  ever 

P. 


'  Sylvester  Douglas,  afterwards  Baron  Glenbervie,  was  Chief  Secretary  to  the 
Lord  Lieutenant,  Jan.  1794 — Jan.  1795.  The  valuable  sinecure  office  of  Irish 
Secretary  of  State  was  intended  for  him  by  Pitt  or  his  Irish  advisers,  but  in  Portland's 
view  it  could  not  fairly  be  given  to  one  who  was  not  a  native  of  Ireland. 

'  William  Bennett. 


windham  to  fitzwilliam  12$ 

Windham   to    Earl   Fitzwilliam. 

(Add.  MS.  37874,  f-  85-) 

Private.  Hill  Str.,  Sunday  morn. 

[Oct.   12,   1794.] 

My  dear  Lord, 

I  hope  that  in  pursuit  of  a  purpose  pregnant  with  con- 
sequences so  very  serious  you  will  not  suffer  yourself  to  act  from  any 
impulse  of  passion,  nor  under  any  misapprehension  of  the  merits  of 
the  case.  Is  the  embarrassment  that  has  arisen,  fairly  to  be  charged 
to  the  account  of  Pitt  ?  and  are  the  means  of  relieving  it  such  in  all 
their  parts,  as  He  can  properly  be  expected  to  furnish  ? 

The  first  consideration  simply  is,  did  Pitt,  or  did  He  not  say  from 
the  beginning,  that  He  could  not  open  the  situation  of  Ireland  till  He 
had  provided  for  Lord  W.  another  at  his  return,  as  good  as  that 
which  He  held  before  his  appointment  ?— The  second  is,  can  Pitt 
without  dishonour  suffer  a  proscription  of  those  who  are  principally 
marked  out  to  enmity,  (and  will  be  represented  as  being  wholly  so,) 
in  consequence  of  their  support  of  his  former  measures  ?  and  has 
not  He  some  colour  for  saying  that  if  a  measure  so  strong  as  the 
removal  of  the  C.  was  intended,  it  ought  to  have  been  signified 
when  the  terms  of  the  arranorements  were  first  settled  ? 

The  evil  has  been,  that  things  have  been  suffered  to  lye  under 
a  supposed  general  understanding,  which  ought  to  have  been  dis- 
tinctly brought  forward,  and  which  were  not  of  that  sort,  that  an 
agreement  to  them  should  have  been  presumed.  I  really  think, 
to  speak  in  fairness,  that  P.  could  hardly  have  been  expected,  when 
He  was  augmenting  his  administration  by  a  junction  with  another 
party,  to  give  up  at  one  stroke  all  his  friends  on  the  other  side  of 
the  water  to  the  mercy  of  those  with  whom  He  was  connecting  him- 
self. Should  you  in  such  a  case  have  thought  such  a  conduct 
warrantable  in  yourself?  We  must  consider  them  not  according 
to  their  actual  merits,  but  according  to  their  merits  as  they  appear 
to  him,  or  at  least  as  He  is  bound  to  consider  them. 

What  I  wish  is,  that  it  should  be  considered  fairly  how  much 
change    is    absolutely    necessary   for   carrying    on   the   Government 


126  WINDHAM    TO    FITZWILLIAM 

according  to  your  own  and  the  D.  of  P.'s  ideas  ;  (for  such  a  change 
only  can  in  any  wise  be  insisted  on  ;)  and  then  what  means  may  be 
desired  for  effecting  that,  without  violating  the  protection  which  Pitt 
is  called  upon  to  give  to  those  who  have  supported  uniformly  his 
former  government. 

The  question  of  L^  Mans**^  is  a  separate  consideration,  and  must 
be  decided  by  inquiring,  which  of  the  two,  He  or  L*^  W.,  should  in 
reason  be  expected  to  give  way. 

If,  after  every  endeavour  used,  these  opposite  considerations 
must  at  last  remain  irreconcileable,  there  will  at  last  be  the  con- 
solation of  thinking  that  the  ruin  which  will  ensue,  and  of  which  it 
is  difficult  to  foretell  the  extent,  will  not  have  happened  but  by  the 
unhappy  course  of  things,  and  not  for  want  of  the  exertions  of  those 
whose  duty  it  was  to  prevent  it. 

I  am,  My  dear  Lord, 

Yours  with  all  truth 

W.  Windham. 


Lord  Mansfield  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37874,  f.  88.) 
Private.  Kenwood,  Sunday  night,  Ocf".  12,  '94. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  will  make  no  apology  for  troubling  you  upon  a  subject 
that  is  equally  interesting  to  us  both.  I  see  with  infinite  concern  that 
we  are  upon  the  Brink  of  a  Rupture,  the  Evil  consequences  of  which 
are  such  as  I  am  sure  no  man  living  can  calculate ;  a  few  words  of 
explanation  at  the  Time  would  have  prevented  a  great  Part  of  the 
Mischief.  I  knew  from  the  Duke  of  Portland  from  time  to  time 
every  thing  that  passed,  and  can  safely  venture  to  assert  that  had 
He  conceived  it  possible  that  He  was  not  to  have  the  entire  and 
perfect  Management  of  all  Irish  Business,  the  Negotiation  would 
have  instantly  stopped.      The  Prospect  of  being  of  use  in  Ireland 

'  I.e.  whether  he  or  Lord  Westmorland  should  succeed  Fitzwilliam  as  Lord 
President.  The  office  eventually  found  for  Westmorland  was  that  of  Master  of  the 
Horse,  vice  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  made  Lord  Justice  General. 


MANSFIELD   TO   WINDHAM  127 

was  His  great  Inducement.     He  wished  Himself  to  go  thither,  which 
I  for  one  combated  to  the  utmost  of  my  Power,  being  persuaded  that 
it  was  essential  to  the  success  of  the  arrangement  which  you  well 
remember  I   had  so  much  at  Heart,  that  He  should   hold  a  great 
Responsible  Situation  in  the  Cabinet.    His  Desire  of  going  to  Ireland 
is  irrefragable  Evidence  of  the  Light  in  which  he  considered  what 
had  passed  upon  the  subject.      Had  He  imagined  that   He  was  to 
follow  the  same  Plan  that  had  been  followed  by  Lord  Westmoreland, 
and  was  to  work  with   the  same  Instruments,   He  would  no   more 
have  accepted  the  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  than  He  would  have  taken 
the  Government  of  Botany  Bay.      In  consequence  of  the  repeated 
Sollicitations  to  Him  not  to  think  of  Ireland  for  Himself,    He  re- 
linquished that  Idea,   and  then  thought  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who, 
if  it  had  not  been  for  a  Delicacy  to  Lady  Fitzwilliam,  would  have 
accepted  instantly,  and  all  this  Mischief  would  have  been  prevented. 
It  was  perfectly  understood  that  Lord  Westmoreland  was  to  be 
properly  provided  for,  that  is,  that  the  moment  an  opportunity  offer'd 
of  providing  for  Him  properly  in  any  Department,  that  opportunity 
was  to  be  seized,  and  He  was  to  be  consider'd  as  having  a  prior 
claim  to  any  other  Person  to  a  situation  similar  to  that  which   He 
formerly  enjoyed;  with  Respect  to  the  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  I  always 
understood  that  it  was  a  thing  perfectly  settled  that  the  D.  of  Portland 
was  to  have  the  entire  management  of  all  Irish  Business,  that  it  was 
not  to  be  merely  nominally  in  His  Department,  but  that  the  real 
Manag*  was  to  be  in  Him.     It  followed  of  necessary  consequence 
that  the  L^  Lieut,  he  named  was  not  to  use  the  Instr*^  he  found,  but 
was  to  make  use  of  other  means,  was  in  a  word  to  connect  Himself 
with  the  Ponsonbys  and  their  friends.     Of  all  this  I  could  give  such 
evidence  as  would  be  rec'^  in  a  Court  of  Justice.     The  fair  and  manly 
manner  in  which  M''  Pitt  seems  determined  to  support  the  War  makes 
me  regret  this  Misunderstanding  the  more.      I  say  it  with  heartfelt 
anguish,  my  clear  opinion  is  that  if  there  should  be  a  Rupture  at 
present  the  Country  is  undone. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  most  faithfully  yours 

Mansfield. 


128  portland  to  windham 

Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  49-) 

Monday  morn.     13  Ocf,  i794- 
Dear  Windham, 

I  was  just  going  to  desire  You  to  let  me  see  you  again 
this  mornS  when  Grattan  sent  me  word  that  He  wished  to  call  upon 
me.  I  expect  Him  every  minute.  If  You  should  come  while  he  is 
here  I  would  follow  you  to  your  office.  This  Business  must  be 
decided,  for  otherwise  Pitt  can  not,  and  we  can  have  no  chance  of 
preserving  anything  like  Government  in   Ireland. 

Yours  ever 

P. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  5I-) 

Wednesday  [?  15  Oct.  1794']. 
Mv  DEAR  Sir, 

Since  I  saw  you,  I  have  been  full  of  uneasy  and  per- 
plexing thoughts.  Every  thing  which  is  done  now  will  have 
consequences  of  much  more  extent  than  the  acts  themselves  seem 
directly  to  import.  For  God's  sake  let  nothing  be  precipitated. 
I  shall  open  myself  to  you  most  fully  and  confidentially.  But 
I  don't  like  to  trust  the  post.  I  don't  like  neither  that  you  should 
be  from  the  scene  of  action.  But  if  you  send  your  servant  hither 
I  shall  send  to  you  by  him  what  I  threw  down  last  night.      I  am 

ever  your  most  faithful 

unhappy  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 

I  send  this  by  M""  Browne. 


'  Endorsed  i?""?  Oct.  '94,  but  17th  was  Friday. 


burke  to  windham  1 29 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Diary,  p.   328.) 

Beaconsfield,   Oct.   16,   1794. 

My  dear  Sir, — - 

What  I  enclose  to  you  with  this  is  to  yourself  principally; 
but  if  you  enter  into  my  ideas,  it  is  ostensible  to  M''  Pitt  and 
M""  Dundas  ;  and  if  you  will  to  the  Chancellor.  This  I  don't  desire, 
because  in  case  of  our  agreement  the  arguments  will  come  with  far 
more  authority  from  yourself.  But  if  you  think  that  my  opinions 
would  tend  in  any  way  to  strengthen  yours,  you  have  my  permission 
to  show  them  to  any  of  the  three,  upon  whom  you  conceive  they  are 
the  most  likely  to  make  an  impression.  M*"  Pitt  is  surprised  that 
your  friends  should  think  of  breaking  the  Ministry  at  such  a  time  as 
this  ;  sure  it  is  equally  surprising  that  he  should  do  so  by  putting 
them  out  of  their  offices,  for  it  is  plain  they  cannot  stay  in  them 
under  the  present  circumstances.  It  is  he  who  is  chiefly  responsible 
(almost,  indeed,  wholly  so)  for  carrying  on  the  public  business  in 
this  dreadful  season.  It  is  his  system  and  his  power  that  are  to  be 
supported;  and  I  never  knew  a  Minister  that  would  not  do  a  thousand 
things  to  gain,  and  to  keep,  men  convenient  at  least  to  the  support 
of  his  power  and  reputation,  especially  when  the  greatest  interests 
ever  stated^  were  depending.  When  he  will  do  no  one  earthly  thing 
to  keep  them,  they  must  think,  and  the  world  must  think,  he  wants 
to  get  rid  of  them.  I  wish  you  to  speak  fully  to  Dundas  on  this 
business.  I  conceive  all  others  ought  to  be  postponed  to  it.  I  don't 
know  what  part  he  has  in  the  intrigue.  But  if  he  is  clear  of  that,  he 
is  open  to  reason,  and  is  not  without  influence.  You  mistook  me 
about  Grattan.  I  did  not  wish  M''  Pitt  to  reason  him  into  a  derelic- 
tion of  opposition  to  Lord  Westmoreland,  for  I  well  knew  that 
a  dread  of  that  opposition  would  be  a  principal  inducement  to  M''  Pitt 
to  be  reconciled  to  your  friends ;  I  wished  you  to  get  the  Duke  of 
Portland  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  with  whom  he  was  in  confidence,  and 
to  whom  he  came  over  in  order  to  destroy  the  system  of  the  junto 
and  to  pledge  himself  to  support  them  in  opposition  to  it,  to  consult 

'  ?  staked. 

B.-w.  c.  17 


130  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

with  him  what  it  was  best  for  that  purpose  to  do,  whether  to  resign 
or  not,  or  what  other  course  to  take.      I  should  have  made  a  great 
scruple    of  conscience    to    do    anything    whatever  for  the    support, 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  a  set  of  men  in  Ireland,  who,  that  conscience 
well    informed    tells    me,  by  their   innumerable    corruptions,  frauds, 
oppressions  and  follies,  are  opening  a  back  door  for  Jacobinism,  to 
rush  in  expenses  and  to  take  us  in  the  rear.     As  surely  as  you  and 
I  exist,  so  surely  this  will  be  the  consequence  of  their  persisting  in 
their  system.     As  to  yourself,  you  have  my  most  ardent  prayers  that 
God  would  direct  you,  through  your  reason,  to  the  best  course.    I  am 
glad  that  neither  the  Duke  of  Portland,  nor  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  nor 
you,  have  called  on  me  for  my  opinion  on  your  conduct.     Whatever 
you  do  will  be  well  intended  and  well  advised.     You  will  then  smile 
and  ask  me,  why  I  am  so  free  in  my  advice  to  M'"  Pitt  through  you, 
who  has   asked  it  as  little  as  the  rest  ?     Why,  because  the  whole 
depends  on  him.      If  he  mistakes,  so  as  to  let  this  Ministry  go  to 
pieces,  we  shall,  along  with  him,  be  all  undone.     The  Lieutenancy 
of  Ireland  is  an  arrangement  subservient  to  the  reformation  or  to 
the  continuance  of  the  abuses  reigning  in  the  country,  and  he  who  is 
the  real  Minister  can  alone  support  or   destroy  them.      I  ought  to 
have  sent  my  packet  earlier.     But  I  have  been  oppressed  with  such 
sinkings  and  dejection  of  spirits,  that  in  adding,  after  the  coming  of 
your  messenger,  to   what    I    wrote   the    night   before,   I    have   been 
obliged  to  go  into  the  open  air  from  time  to  time  to  refresh  myself, 
and  thus  the  time  went  away.     This  is  dreadful !  dreadful !  beyond 
the  loss  of  a  general  battle.     I  now  despair  completely.      I  begin  to 
think  that  God,  who  most  surely  regards  the  least  of  His  creatures 
as  well  as  the  greatest,  took  what  was  dearest  to  me  to  Himself  in 
a  good  time.     Adieu ! 

Your  ever  faithful  and  obliged  friend,  and  humble  servant 

Edmund  Burke. 


burke  to  windham  i3i 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Diary,  p.  321.) 

Od.   16,   1794. 

My  Dear  Sir 

My  state  of  mind  was  not  the  most  enviable  before  the 
present  unhappy  misunderstanding.  I  cannot  think  without  horror 
on  the  effects  of  a  breach  in  the  Ministry  in  this  state  of  our  affairs 
and  just  before  the  meeting  of  Parliament.  It  will  complete  our  ruin! 
Every  honest  man  in  every  country  in  Europe  will  by  this  event  be 
cast  into  dismay  and  despair.  It  looks  as  if  the  hand  of  God  was  in 
this,  as  it  is  strongly  marked  in  all  the  rest.  However,  we  must  still 
use  our  poor  human  prudence,  and  our  feeble  human  efforts,  as  if 
things  were  not,  what  I  greatly  fear  they  are,  predetermined.  I  am 
out  of  action,  but  not  out  of  anxiety.  I  feel  deeply  for  yourself — ■ 
I  feel  for  my  other  friends — I  feel  for  the  general  cause.  Ireland,  the 
country  In  which  I  was  born,  is  the  immediate  subject  of  the  dispute  : 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  the  man  in  the  world  I  am  most  obliged  to,  is  the 
party  chiefly  concerned  in  it.  To  M*"  Pitt — the  other  party — I  have 
strong  and  recent  obligations.  Before  I  had  any  such  I  was  clearly 
of  opinion  that  his  power  and  all  the  chance  we  have  for  the  rescue 
of  Europe  were  inseparably  connected.  You  know  that,  though 
I  had  no  part  in  the  actual  formation  of  the  present  system  of 
a  coalesced  Ministry,  that  no  pains  were  wanting  on  my  part  to 
produce  the  dispositions  which  led  to  it.  You,  of  all  men,  therefore, 
are  the  best  judge  how  much  I  am  in  earnest  that  this  horrible  breach 
should  not  be  made.  How  to  prevent  it  I  know  not;  I  cannot  advise. 
I  can  only  make  statements,  which  I  submit  entirely  to  your  judg- 
ment ;  I  do  not  write  to  anyone  else,  because  you  alone  have  desired 
to  hear  my  sentiments  on  this  subject.  I  will  trouble  you  with  no 
other  view  of  the  matter,  than  as  it  concerns  the  interest,  the  stability, 
perhaps  the  existence,  of  M''  Pitt's  power.  I  was  one  of  those  who 
were  of  opinion  that  he  could  have  stood  merely  on  his  own  basis  ; 
but  this  was  my  private  speculation,  and  hardly  justified,  I  fear,  by 
the  experience  of  mankind  in  cases  any  way  similar.  But  to  have 
gone  on  without  this  new  connection,  and  to  bear  the  loss  of  it,  are 
two  very  different  things.     The  accession  of  a  great  mass  of  reputa- 

17 — 2 


132  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

tion,  taken  out  of  a  state  of  very  perilous  and  critical  neutrality  and 
brought  to  the  decided  support  of  the  Crown  and  an  actual  participa- 
tion in  the  responsibility  of  Measures  rendered  questionable  by  very 
great  misfortunes,  were  the  advantages  which  M""  Pitt  derived  from 
a  coalition  with  you  and  your  friends.      I  say  nothing  just  now  of 
your  weight  in  the  country,  and  the  abilities,  which,  in  your  several 
ways,  you  possess.      I  rest  only  on  your  character  and  reputation  for 
integrity,  independence,  and  dignity  of  mind.     This  is  everything  at 
a    moment   when    opinion  (never    without    its    effect)   has  obtained 
a  greater  dominion  over  human  affairs  than  ever  it  possessed  ;  and 
which   must  grow  just  in  proportion  as  the  implicit  reverence  for 
old  institutions  is  found  to  decline.     They  who  will  say  that  the  very 
name  which  you  and  the  Duke  of  Portland  and   Lord   Fitzwilliam 
and  Lord  Spencer  have,  as  men  of  unblemished  honour  and  great 
public  spirit,  is  of  no  use  to  the  Crown  at  this  time,  talk  like  flatterers 
who  despise  the  understandings  of  those  whose  favour  they  court. 
It  is  as  much  M""  Pitt's  interest,  as  a  faithful  and  zealous  servant  of 
the   Crown  (as    I   am  sure   he   is),  to  hold   high    your  honour  and 
estimation  with  the  public,  as  it  is  your  own.     Can  it  be  preserved 
if  Lord  Fitzwilliam  continues  in  office,  after  all  that  has  happened, 
consistently  with    the    reputation    he    has    obtained,    and   which,  as 
a  sacred  trust  for  the  King  and  country,  he  is  bound  to  keep,  as 
well  as  for  his  own  inward  satisfaction  ?     I  will  not  say  that  Lord 
Fitzwilliam    has    not,    in    some    respects,    acted   with    a   degree    of 
indiscretion.     The  question    is,   whether   M""  Pitt  can   or  ought    to 
take  advantage  of  it  to  his  own  material  prejudice  ?     You  are  better 
acquainted  than   I   am   with  the  terms,  actual  or  understood,  upon 
which  the   Duke  of   Portland,  acting  for    himself  and    others,   has 
accepted  office.      I  know  nothing  of  them,  but  by  a  single  conversa- 
tion with  him.     From  thence  I  learned  that  (whether  authorised  or 
not)  he  considered  without  a  doubt  that  the  administration  of  Ireland 
was  left  wholly  to  him,  and  without  any  other  reserves  than  what  are 
supposed   in   every  wise  and  sober  servant   of  the   Crown.     Lord 
Fitzwilliam,  I   know,  conceived  things  exactly  in  that  manner,  and 
proceeded  as  if  there  was  no  controversy  whatever  on  the  subject. 
He  hesitated  a  long  time  whether  he  should  take  the  station  ;  but 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  1 33 

when  he  agreed  to  it,  he  thought  he  had  obHged  the  Ministry,  and 
done  what  was  pleasant  to  the  King,  in  going  into  an  office  of  great 
difficulty  and  heavy  responsibility.  He  foresaw  no  other  obstacles 
than  what  were  found  in  his  own  inclinations,  the  nature  of  the 
employment,  and  the  circumstances  in  which  Ireland  stands.  He 
therefore  invited  several  persons  to  converse  with  him  in  all  the 
confidence  with  which  men  ought  to  open  themselves  to  a  person 
of  honour,  who  though  not  actually,  was  virtually  in  office.  Whether 
the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  had  reason  for  this  entire 
security,  you  are  better  able  to  judge  than  I  am.  I  am  sure  they 
conceived  things  in  the  light  I  state  them,  though  I  really  think  that 
they  never  can  reconcile  it  to  the  rigid  rules  of  prudence  with  regard 
to  their  own  safety,  or  to  an  entire  decorum  with  regard  to  the 
other  Cabinet  Ministers,  to  go  so  far  into  detail  as  has  been  done, 
until  all  the  circumstances  of  the  appointment  were  settled  in  a  more 
distinct  and  specific  manner  than  they  had  been.  But  I  am  sure 
they  thought  that  a  very  large  discretion  was  committed  to  them  ; 
and  I  am  equally  sure  that  their  general  places'  (so  far  as  I  know 
them)  were  perfectly  upright  and  perfectly  well  understood  for  the 
King's  service  and  the  good  of  his  empire.  I  admit,  and  lament, 
the  error  into  which  they  have  fallen.  It  must  be  very  great,  as 
it  seems  M''  Pitt  had  no  thought  at  all  of  a  change  in  the  Irish 
Government;  or,  if  he  had,  it  was  dependent  on  Lord  Westmoreland's 
sense  of  the  fitness  of  some  other  office  to  accommodate  him  on  his 
resignation  of  the  great  place  which,  for  five  or  six  years,  he  has  held. 
This  puts  off  the  business  sine  die.  These  are  some  of  the  mischiefs 
which  arise  from  a  want  of  clear  explanation  on  the  first  digestion  of 
any  political  system. 

If  an  agreement  is  wished,  criminations  and  recriminations,  charges 
and  defences  are  not  the  way  to  it.  If  the  communication  hitherto 
has  not  been  as  full  and  as  confidential  as  it  ought  to  have  been,  let 
it  be  so  now.  Let  it  be  such  as  becomes  men  engaged  in  the  same 
cause,  with  the  interest  and  with  the  same  sense  of  the  arduous  trust 
which,  in  the  most  critical  of  all  times,  has  been  delivered  over  to 
them  by  their  King  and  country.     In  this  dreadful  situation  of  things, 

'  ?  plans. 


134  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

is  it  not  clearly  NF  Pitt's  interest,  without  considering  whether  he 
has  a  case  as  against  his  colleagues  or  not,  to  keep  up  the  reputation 
of  those  who  came  to  his  aid  under  circumstances  liable   to  mis- 
construction ;   liable  to   the  exaggerated   imputations  of  men,  able, 
dexterous,  and  eloquent ;  and  who  came  to  him  when  the  whole  of 
the  affairs  under  his  administration  bore  the  worse  aspect  that  can  be 
imagined  ?     I  am  well  aware  that  there  is  a  sort  of  politicians  who 
would  tell  M'"  Pitt  that  this  disgracing  his  colleagues  would  be  to  him 
a  signal  triumph,  and  that  it  would  be  to  the  public  a  splendid  mark 
of  his  power  and  superiority.      But  alas  !  it  would  be  a  triumph  over 
his    own    force.      His    paramount    power  is   well    understood.      His 
power  is  an  object  rather  of  envy  and  terror  than  of  contempt.     I  am 
no  great  dealer  in  general  maxims.      I  am  sensible  how  much  the 
best  of  them  are  controlled  by  circumstances.      But  I  am  satisfied, 
that  where  the  most  real  and  solid  power  exists,  there  it  is  the  most 
necessary,   every   now  and  then,    to   yield,  not  only  from  the   real 
advantages  of  practicability,  but  from  the  advantages  which  attend 
the  very  appearance  of  it.     What  is  given  up  by  power,  is  a  mark  of 
moderation  ;  what  is  given  up  because  it  cannot  be  kept,  is  a  mark  of 
servility  and  meanness.     What  coffee-house  politician  is  so  grossly 
ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  the  real  seat  of  power  is  in  M''  Pitt,  and 
in  none  of  you  who  by  the  courtesy  of  England  are  called  Ministers  ? 
Whatever  he  gives  up  will  be   manifestly  for  the    King's  service ; 
whatever  they  yield  will  be  thought  to  flow  from  a  mean  desire  of 
office,  to  be  held  without  respect  or  consideration.      If  he  yields  any 
point,  he  will  be  sure  to  put  out  his  concessions,  to  be  repaid  to  him 
with  usury.     All  this  unfortunate  notion  of  triumph,  on  the  one  part 
and  the  other,  arises  from  the  idea  that  Ministry  is  not  one  thing,  but 
composed  of  separate  and  independent  parties — a  ruinous  idea,  which 
I   have   done  everything  in   my   power  to  discourage,  and  with   a 
growing  success.      I  can  say  almost  with  assurance,  that  if  M'"  Pitt 
can  contrive  (and  it  is  worth  his  while  to  contrive  it)  to  keep  his  new 
acquisition  of  friends  in  good  humour  for  six  months  more,  he  will 
find   them  as  much  of  his  party,  and  in  my  opinion,  more  surely^ 
to  be  depended  upon,  than  any  which  he  has  hitherto  considered  as 
his  own.      It  is  of  infinite  importance  to  him  to  have  it  thought  that 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  1 35 

he  is  well  connected  with  others  besides  those  who  are  believed  to 
depend  on  him. 

If  it  is  once  laid  down,  that  it  is  true  policy  in  M''  Pitt  to  uphold 
the  credit  of  his    colleagues    in    administration,    even    under  some 
difference  in  opinion,  the  question  will  be,  whether  the  present  is  not 
a  case  of  too  much  importance  to  be  included  in  that  general  policy, 
and  that  Lord  Fitzwilliam  may  very  well  give  up  the  lieutenancy, 
and  yet  hold   his  office,  without   any  disgrace.     On   that,   I   think, 
there  can  be  little  difference  in  opinion.     He  must,  to  be  sure,  resign  ; 
and  resign  with  every  sentiment  of  displeasure  and  discontent.     This 
I  have  not  advised  him  to  do  ;  for,  most  certainly,  I  have  had  no 
conversation  with  him  on  the  subject ;  and  I  am  very  glad  I  have 
not  had  any  such  discourse.      But  the  thing  speaks  for  itself      He 
has  consulted  with  many  people  from  Ireland,  of  all  descriptions,  as 
if  he  were  virtually  Lord-Lieutenant.     The  Duke  of  Portland  has 
acted  upon  that  supposition  as  a  fundamental  part  of  his  arrangement. 
Lord  Fitzwilliam  cannot  shrink  into  his  shell  again,  without  being 
thought  a  light  man,  in  whom  no  person  can  place  any  confidence. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  takes  the  sword,  not  only  without  power, 
but  with    a   direct    negative   put    upon    his    power,    he   is  a    Lord- 
Lieutenant  disgraced  and  degraded.     With  infinite  sorrow  I  say  it — 
with  sorrow  inexpressible — he  must  resign.     If  he  does,  the  Duke  of 
Portland  must  resign  too.    In  fact,  they  will  both  consider  themselves 
as  turned  out ;  and  I  know  it  will  be  represented  to  them,  because 
I  know  it  has  been  predicted  to  them,  that  their  being  brought  into 
office  was  no  more  than  a  stratagem,  to  make  them  break  with  their 
friends  and  original  natural  connections,  to  make  them  lose  all  credit 
with  the  independent  part  of  the  country,  and  then  to  turn  them  out 
as  objects  of  universal  scorn  and  derision  without  party  or  adherents 
to  resort  to !     I  believe  Lord  Fitzwilliam  has  in  his  bureau  one  letter 
to  this  effect — I  well  recollect  that  he  was  much  affected  by  it,  and 
indeed  doubtful  of  accepting — perhaps  more  than  one.     1  am  certain, 
that  whether  they  stay  in  under  a  state  of  degradation,  or  are  turned 
out,  their  situation  will  be  terrible  ;  and  such  as  will  be  apt  to  fill 
men  with  rage  and  desperate  resolutions.      Both  their  coming  in  and 
their  going  out  will  be  reviled  ;  and  they  will  be  ridiculed  and  insulted 


136  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

on  both  by  the  Opposition.  They  will  affect  to  pity  them.  They 
will  even  offer  to  pardon  them.  Amongst  M'"  Pitt's  old  adherents, 
as  perhaps  you  know  as  well  as  I  do,  there  were  many  who  liked  your 
coming  in  as  little  as  M""  Fox  or  M''  Sheridan  could  do.  They 
considered  M''  Pitt's  enlarging  his  bottom  as  an  interloping  on  their 
monopoly.  They  will  join  the  halloo  of  the  others.  If  they  can 
persuade  M''  Pitt  that  this  is  a  triumph,  he  will  have  it.  But  may 
God  in  His  goodness  avert  the  consequences  from  him  and  all 
of  us ! 

"  But  why,"  will  some  say,  "should  not  Lord  Fitzwilliam  take  the 
Lord- Lieutenancy,  and  let  the  Chancellor  remain  where  he  is  ?  He 
will  be  good-humoured  and  subservient,  and  let  the  Lord- Lieutenant 
do  as  he  pleases."  But  after  what  has  passed,  the  true  question  is, 
which  of  these  two  is  to  govern  Ireland.  I  think  I  know  what  a 
Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland  is,  or  I  know  nothing.  Without  a  hearty 
and  effectual  support  of  the  Minister  here,  he  is  much  worse  than  a 
mere  pageant.  A  man  in  the  pillory  is  in  a  post  of  honour  in  com- 
parison of  such  a  Lord-Lieutenant.  "  But  Lord  Westmoreland  goes 
on  very  quietly."  He  does  so.  He  has  no  discussions  with  the 
junto  who  have  annihilated  English  government.  Be  his  abilities 
and  his  spirit  what  they  may,  he  has  no  desire  of  governing. 
He  is  a  Basha  of  Egypt,  who  is  content  to  let  the  Beys  act  as  they 
think  proper.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  is  a  high-minded  man,  a  man  of 
very  great  parts,  and  a  man  of  very  quick  feelings.  He  cannot  be 
the  instrument  of  the  junto,  with  the  name  of  the  King's  representa- 
tive, if  he  would.  If  Lord  Fitzwilliam  was  to  be  sent  to  Ireland,  to 
be  exactly  as  Lord  Westmoreland  is,  I  undertake  to  affirm,  that  a 
worst  choice  for  that  purpose  could  not  be  made.  If  he  has  nothing 
to  do  but  what  Lord  W^estmoreland  does,  neither  ought  Lord  West- 
moreland to  be  removed,  nor  the  Chancellor,  no,  nor  the  Chancellor's 
Train-bearer.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  has  no  business  there  at  all.  He 
has  fortune  enough.  He  has  rank  enough.  Here  he  is  infinitely 
more  at  his  ease,  and  he  is  of  infinitely  more  use  here  than  he  can  be 
there,  where  his  desire  of  really  doing  business,  and  his  desire  of 
being  the  real  representative  of  the  Crown,  would  only  cause  to  him 
infinite  trouble  and  distress.     For  it  is  not  to  know  Ireland  to  say, 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  1 37 

that  what  is  called  opposition  is  what  will  give  trouble  to  a  real 
Viceroy.  His  embarrassments  are  upon  the  part  of  those  who  ought 
to  be  the  supports  of  English  government ;  but  who  have  formed 
themselves  into  a  cabal  to  destroy  the  King's  authority,  and  to  divide 
the  country  as  a  spoil  amongst  one  another.  Non  regnum  sed 
magnum  latrocinium  :  the  motto  which  ought  to  be  put  under  the 
harp.  This  is  not  talk.  I  can  put  my  hand  on  the  instances,  and 
not  a  doubt  would  remain  on  your  mind  of  the  fact.  His  Majesty 
has  the  patronage  to  the  Pashalic,  as  the  Grand  Seignior  has  to  that 
of  Egypt,  and  that  is  all.  Such  is  the  state  of  things.  I  think 
matters  recoverable  in  some  degree ;  but  the  attempt  is  to  be  made. 

If  Ireland  be  well  enough,  and  safe  enough,  as  it  is ;  if  the 
Chancellor  and  the  Government  of  the  junto  is  good  for  the  King, 
the  country,  and  the  empire,  God  forbid  that  a  stone  in  that  edifice 
should  be  picked  out  to  gratify  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  or  anybody  else. 
But  if  that  kingdom,  by  the  meditated  and  systematic  corruption 
(private,  personal,  not  politic  corruption)  of  some,  and  the  headlong 
violence  and  tyrannical  spirit  of  others,  totally  destitute  of  wisdom, 
and  the  more  incurably  so,  as  not  being  destitute  of  some  flashy 
parts,  is  brought  into  a  very  perilous  situation,  then  I  say,  at  a  time 
like  this,  there  is  no  making  questions  about  it  mere  discussions 
between  one  branch  and  the  other  of  administration,  either  in 
England  or  Ireland.  The  state  of  Ireland  is  not  like  a  thing  without 
intrinsic  merits,  and  on  which  it  may  be  safe  to  make  a  trial  of  skill, 
or  a  trial  of  strength.  It  is  no  longer  an  obscure  dependency  of  this 
kingdom.  What  is  done  there  vitally  affects  the  whole  system  of 
Europe.  Whether  you  regard  it  offensively  or  defensively,  Ireland  is 
known  in  France.  Communications  have  been  opened,  and  more 
will  be  opened.  Ireland  will  be  a  strong  digue  to  keep  out  Jacobinism, 
or  a  broken  bank  to  let  it  in.  The  junto  have  weathered  the  old 
European  system  of  government  there,  and  brought  it  into  utter 
discredit.  I  look  in  this  affair  to  Ireland,  and  in  Ireland  to  Great 
Britain,  and  in  Great  Britain  to  Europe.  The  little  cliques  there  are 
to  me  as  nothing.  They  have  never  done  me  a  favour  nor  an  injury. 
But  that  kingdom  is  of  great  importance  indeed.  I  regard,  in  this 
point,  all  descriptions  of  men  with  great  comparative  indifference. 

B.-w.  c.  i8 


138  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

I  love  Lord  Fitzwilliam  very  well ;  but  so  convinced  am  I,  on  the 
maturest  reflection,  of  the  perilous  state  into  which  the  present  junto 
have  brought  that  kingdom  (on  which,  in  reality,  this  kingdom,  at 
this  juncture,  is  dependent),  that  if  he  were  to  go  with  a  resolution 
to  support  it,  I  would,  on  my  knees,  entreat  him  not  to  have  a  share 
in  the  ruin  of  his  country  under  the  poor  pretence  of  governing  a 
part  of  it.  Oh  !  my  dear  friend,  I  write  with  a  sick  heart  and  a  wearied 
hand.  If  you  can,  pluck  Ireland  out  of  the  unwise  and  corrupt 
hands  that  are  destroying  us.  If  they  say,  they  will  mend  their 
manners,  I  tell  you,  they  cannot  mend  them  ;  and  if  they  could,  this 
mode  of  doing  and  undoing,  saying  and  unsaying,  inflaming  the  people 
with  voluntary  violence,  and  appeasing  them  with  forced  concession  ; 
their  keeping  the  "  word  of  promise  to  their  ear  and  breaking  it  to 
their  hope" ;  their  wanton  expenses,  and  their  fraudulent  economy  ;  all 
these,  and  ten  times  more  than  these,  but  all  of  the  same  sort,  are  the 
very  things  which  have  brought  government  in  that  country  to  the 
state  of  contempt  and  incurable  distrust  under  which  it  labours.  It 
cannot  have  its  very  distemper  for  its  cure.  You  know  me,  I  think, 
enough  to  be  quite  sure  that  in  giving  you  an  opinion  concerning 
M""  Pitt's  interest  and  honour,  I  have  not  an  oblique  regard,  at  his 
expense,  to  the  honour  and  interest  of  others.  No  !  I  always  thought 
advice  the  most  sacred  of  all  things,  and  that  it  always  ought  to  be 
given  for  the  benefit  of  the  advised.  I  am  now  endeavouring  to  make 
up  my  accounts  with  my  Creator.  I  am,  almost  literally,  a  dying 
man.  I  speak  with  all  the  freedom,  and  with  all  the  clearness  of 
that  situation.  I  speak  as  a  man  under  a  strong  sense  of  obligation 
to  M^  Pitt,  when  I  assure  him,  under  the  solemn  sanction  of  that 
awful  situation,  that  my  firm  opinion  is,  that  by  getting  rid  of  the  new 
accessions  to  his  strength,  and  especially  upon  the  ground  of  protec- 
tion to  certain  Irish  politicians,  (at  what  distance  of  time  I  cannot  say) 
but  he  is  preparing  his  certain  ruin,  with  all  the  consequences  of  that 
ruin,  which  I  tremble  to  think  on.  God  bless  you  all,  and  direct  you 
for  the  best ! 

Ever,  ever,  your  affectionate  and  unhappy  friend 

Edmund  Burke. 


portland  to  windham  1 39 

Duke   of   Portland  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  59- ) 

Sat:    18   Ocr.  midnight. 

Dear  Windham, 

You  need  not  be  under  any  apprehension  upon  the 
subject  of  concessions — but  notwithstanding  I  shall  be  much  disap- 
pointed if  I  don't  see  you  tomorrow  morning,  and  I  wish  you  would 
come  soon  after  ten.  Grattan  is  to  be  here  at  12,  and  he  is  always 
punctual.  I  find  from  D''  Laurence  that  Burke  has  been  all  this 
morn^  writing  to  the  Chancellor,  and  L.  also  tells  me  that  B.  has  been 
more  agitated,  and  that  his  spirits  have  been  more  affected  and 
harried  within  these  two  last  days  than  for  some  weeks  past,  and  L. 
supposes  that  it  is  to  be  intirely  attributed  to  paragraphs  which  have 
appeared  in  the  papers  respecting  the  Gov™*^.  of  Ireland. 

Yours  ever 

P. 


Duke  of  Portland  to  Windham, 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  61.) 

Sunday,  19  Oct"^,  i794- 
half  past  4  p.m. 

Dear  Windham, 

Our  Conference  of  this  morning  makes  it  absolutely 
necessary  that  we  should  have  another  tomorrow,  for  otherwise 
Grattan's  apprehensions  of  a  rupture  will  ruin  every  thing,  and  had 
I  sent  him  to  Pitt  we  should  have  been  completely  demolished 
wholesale  and  retail.  I  have  therefore  desired  that  we  may  have 
another  conference  tomorrow,  and  that  You  and  L**.  Mansfield  may  be 
of  the  party.  We  have  agreed  to  meet  at  twelve  o'clock.  I  depend 
upon  your  coming  and  have  sent  to  Lord  Mansfield,  of  whose  assist- 
ance at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions  We  can  have  no  doubt. 

Yours  ever 
P. 
18—2 


140  PORTLAND    TO   WINDHAM 

Grattan  can  not  fall  into  any  snare,  for  he  dines  with  me  and  can 
not  be  entrapped  between  this  and  to  morrow,  but  I  am  sure  if  Pitt 
had  got  hold  of  him  he  would  have  got  the  complete  dominion  of 
Ireland  forever  if  he  had  so  pleased. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Diary,  p.  330.) 

Beaconsfield, 

Oct.  20,  1794. 
My  Dear  Sir, — 

I   had  your  letter.      Everything  is  undone,  if  the  matter 
is  put  upon   private  and  personal   ground.      If  it  be  a  question  of 
men  and  of  favour,  it  is  quite  clear  what  men  and  what  favour  must 
prevail ;  and,  as  to  the  public  opinion,  it  will  be  clamorously  against 
those  who  come  in  and  go  out  lightly  in  the  most  critical  seasons.      I 
have  thought  this  matter  over  and  over.      I  have  looked  back  at  our 
former  experience  ;    and  I   have  considered  the  genius  of  the  new 
times.      I  have  considered  the  character  of  the  men  you  are  come  to 
act  with  and  your  own   character,  as  well  as  the  character  of  the 
Opposition  and  the  bystanders.      I  have  compared  all  these  with  the 
situation  of  England  and  of  Poland  and  of  Europe.     I   never  gave 
anything  in  my  life  so  thorough  a  sifting.     The  result  is  that  I  am 
clearly  and    decidedly  of  opinion  that   the    Duke  of  Portland,   nor 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,   nor  yourself,  ought  to  resign  ;    but  to  wait — for 
what  I  foresee  will  be  the  case  of  some  of  you— to  be  turned  out. 
You  are  in  a  post  of  strength,  if  you  know  how  to  defend  yourselves. 
Whereas  nothing  but  obloquy,   unpopularity,  disfavours  above  and 
below,  and  complete  impotence  will  follow  you  if  you  are  once  out ; 
and  never  can  you  come  in  again,  but  on  the  ruins  of  your  country. 
But  when  I  say  the  resignations  ought  not  now  to  be  thought  of,  I  do 
not  say  that  the  matters  for  which  you  contend  ought  to  be  aban- 
doned ;  but  the  very  reverse.     You  are  where  you  are,  only  to  act 
with  rectitude,  firmness,  and  disinterestedness,    and   particularly  to 
resist  ad  internecionem  the  corrupt  system  of  Ireland,   which  goes 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  I4I 

directly  to  the  ruin  of  the  whole  empire.  I  seemed  to  think  in  my 
last  letter,  of  the  resignation  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  as  inevitable.  That  letter  was  the  result  of  my  second 
thought.  You  know  that  in  my  [first],  to  which  I  am  now  come 
back,  I  stated  this  position  to  you  as  a  thing  between  the  two  alter- 
natives. In  substance  perhaps  my  opinions  are  the  same:  go  out 
they  must.  I  believe  it  is  a  thing  that  does  not  depend  on  them  to 
avoid — the  question  is  on  the  manner  of  it.  Clearly,  the  most 
reputable  thing  in  every  point  of  view  is  that  they  should  not  commit 
suicide,  but  be  slain  on  their  post  in  a  battle  against  this  Irish 
corruption,  which  is  another  thing  than  the  misapplication  of  so 
much  money.  If  indeed  my  opinion  was  wholly  changed  on  reflec- 
tion, why  should  I  be  ashamed  of  it  in  one  of  the  most  difficult 
questions  that  ever  was  .-'  Whatever  is  done,  I  am  against  all  squab 
proceedings,  such  as  seem  rather  the  effect  of  temper  than  principle. 
They  are  very  ill  used — very  ill  indeed  ;  but  their  own  conduct  has 
been  such  that  they  have  put  themselves  in  the  wrong ;  and  it  is  not 
by  base  yielding  or  by  a  stubborn  perverseness  they  can  get  right, 
but  by  producing  such  a  body  of  principle  as  really  actuates  them, 
and  which  will  make  their  mode  of  proceeding,  however  irregular, 
a  thing  of  very  subordinate  importance.  The  closet  must  be  resorted 
to,  with  all  sort  of  gentleness  and  attention  ;  the  matter  stated,  the 
substance  given  in,  in  writing  ;  opinion  and  direction  rather  asked 
than  resolution  declared  on  their  part ;  lamentation  rather  than 
blame.  Honour  and  principle  are  never  the  worse  for  being  con- 
ducted with  address.  Two  things — not  to  resign,  not  to  abandon 
the  ground  of  dispute.  With  good  conduct  the  whole  may  yet  be 
gained — points,  office,  all.  But  then  the  temper  to  be  used,  in  my 
mind,  ought  not  to  extend  to  the  Irish  job  system.  You  can  only 
defend  yourselves  by  open  avowed  unappeasable  war  against  that,  as 
long  as  no  temperaments  of  any  kind  are  held  out ;  when  they  are, 
their  value  will  be  considered.  I  shall  write,  I  think,  a  note  to  this 
purpose  to  Lord  Fitzwilliam  and  the  Duke  of  Portland.  I  wrote  last 
night  a  threnodia  to  the  Chancellor ;  but  I  did  not  enter  into  any 
particular  whatever:  it  would  have  been  quite  useless.  He  is  a  very 
able  good-humoured  friendly  man  ;    and  for  himself  truly  no  great 


142  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

jobber,  but  where  a  job  of  patronage  occurs,  quanquam  ipsa  in 
morte  tenctur.  For  in  the  article  of  death  he  would  cry,  "  Bring  the 
job !  "  Good  God  !  to  think  of  jobs  in  such  a  moment  as  this  ! 
Why,  it  is  not  vice  any  longer :  it  is  corruption  run  mad.  Thank 
you  for  the  account  of  the  few  saved  at  Bois  le  Due — Pichegru  has 
more  humanity  than  we  have.  Why  are  any  of  these  people  put 
into  garrison  places  ?  It  is  premeditated  and  treacherous  murder. 
If  an  emigrant  governor  was  indeed  appointed,  a  better  thing  could 
not  be  done.  Then  we  should  hear  of  a  defence  :  it  would,  indeed, 
be  a  novelty  ;  and  one  would  think,  for  that  reason,  would  be  recom- 
mended. But  cowardice  and  treachery  seem  qualifications  ;  and 
punishment  is  amongst  the  artes  perditcB  in  the  old  governments. 
I  am  very  miserable — tossed  by  public  upon  private  grief,  and  by 
private  upon  public.  Oh !  have  pity  on  yourselves !  and  may  the 
God,  whose  counsels  are  so  mysterious  in  the  moral  world  (even 
more  than  in  the  natural),  guide  you  through  all  these  labyrinths. 
Do  not  despair  !  if  you  do,  work  in  despair.  Feel  as  little  and  think 
as  much  as  you  can  :  correct  your  natural  constitutions,  but  don't 
attempt  to  force  them. 
Adieu,  adieu  ! 

Yours  ever 

Edmund  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Diary,  p.  333.) 

October  28,  1794. 

My  Dear  Sir 

I  am  in  a  state  of  mind  as  near  complete  despair  as  a 
man  can  be  in  ;  yet  whilst  there  remains  the  faintest  possibility  of 
doing  good,  I  think  you,  whose  duty  it  is  to  act  and  who  have 
vigour  of  body  and  mind  sufficient  to  that  duty,  ought  to  omit  no 
rational  means  of  removing  the  evil  which  presses  the  most  nearly, 
and  is  the  most  within  your  reach.     A  mediator  is  wanted  in  this 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  1 43 

business.  I  doubt  whether  you  are  exactly  in  that  situation.  I 
think  the  Chancellor  is.  I  feared  he  might  be  too  much  influenced 
by  the  jobbery  of  his  Irish  connections,  particularly  that  of  Douglas. 
But  I  rather  think  I  wronged  him.  I  have  heard  from  him,  and  by 
the  strain  he  writes  in  I  am  sure  he  wishes  this  rupture  to  be  made 
up  in  some  proper  way,  as  you  and  I  do.  Now  I  apprehend  he 
may  be  a  little  crippled  in  this  business  of  a  useful  go-between,  if 
there  be  not  some  confidence  shown  to  him  by  our  friends.  I  just 
throw  out  this  hint,  not  being  able  to  say  much  more  than  what  I 
have  already  troubled  you  with  at  great  length.  How  comes  it  that 
I  have  heard  nothing  of  Dundas  in  this  business,  no  more  than  if 
no  such  thing  existed  .•*  and  yet  he  must  certainly  tell  for  a  great 
deal  in  it.  I  know  this  affair  can  never  come  to  any  sort  of  amicable 
conclusion,  whilst  they  treat  the  matter  in  dispute  exactly  in  the 
spirit  and  upon  the  principles  of  ministers  of  adverse  courts  (and  very 
adverse  courts  too)  debating  on  a  matter  in  negotiation,  and  not  as 
members  of  the  same  Cabinet  Council  and  servants  of  the  same 
King.  The  order  of  the  questions  and  all  this  fencing  tends  to  keep 
alive  the  hostility.  There  is  something  of  the  worst  tendency 
imaginable  in  the  whole  mode  of  their  carrying  on  business.  God 
bless  you  ! 

Ever  yours 

Edmund  Burke. 


On  1 7  Dec.  a  further  stage  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  ministry 
was  reached  by  the  appointment  of  Earl  Spencer  as  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  and  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Ireland.  Spencer  was  succeeded  as  Privy  Seal  by  Lord  Chatham, 
who  was  thus  happily  withdrawn  from  active  military  operations. 
As  Fitzwilliam's  appointment  did  not  actually  take  effect  till  he 
landed  in  Ireland,  5  Jan.  1795,  the  patched-up  arrangement  of  the 
difficulty  remained  for  some  weeks  undisturbed. 


144  burke  to  windham 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  53-) 

Beconsfield,  Dec.  22,  1794. 

Monday  night. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  make  no  apology  at  all  when  I  recommend  any  thing 

at  all  about  Business  or  about  men  thro'  you  to  your  friends  and 

fellow-ministers.      Indeed  it  is  in  general  (though  I  would  not  be  too 

troublesome)  the  channel  thro'  which  I  should  most  wish  my  thoughts 

to  go.     If  you  do  not  see  the  thing  to  be  right  or  the  person  proper, 

or  the  ground  [be]  preoccupied,  why,  you  will  do  nothing,  or  they 

will  do  nothing — and  I  shall  be  satisfied,  having  done  my  Duty  and 

taking  it  for  granted  that  you,  on  your  part,  do  yours  as  fairly  and  at 

least  as  wisely.      I  have  much  respect  and  value  for  Lord  Spenser, 

and   I   believe   he   thinks  so.      I   am  sure  our  Navy  is  our  all;  and 

much    will    depend    upon    good    and    apt    subordinate    Instruments. 

Some  people   I  know  consider  them  as  nothing  ;  but  I  am  not  of 

that  opinion  :   I    consider  them  as  every  thing,  or  nearly  so.      It  is 

I    fancy    of    moment    that     Lord    Spenser   should    have   a    private 

secretary  skilful  if  possible  in  the  naval  trade.     If  he  is  not  equipped 

—  I  have  a  friend  whom  I  would  recommend.      It  is  Capt"  Creyk' — 

a  man  of  excellent  Character  in  his  profession  ;    of  good  Service  ; 

well  educated  and  very  intelligent.      I  think  such  a  man  would  be 

an  acquisition  to    Lord  Spenser.       He    has    frequently  applied    for 

professional   employment — but  without  the  shadow  of  professional 

Objection,  and  with  (on  the  contrary)  expressions  of  approbation, 

he  has  not  got  it. 

May  I  beg  you  to  recommend  your  old  acquaintance  and  my 
worthy  friend  and  relation  M"^  Edm<*.  Nagle"  to  Lord  Spenser's 
protection  ;  and  that  he  may  not  lose  any  way  that  he  has  made 
under  Lord  Chatham. 

When  you  please  to  retire  for  a  day  or  two,  here  is  a  place  not 
incommodious    to   you.     You   will  find   your   friends  fewer    by  the 

'  Richard  Creyk,  Captain  R.N.,   1782. 

'  Knighted  1795,  afterwards  Admiral  and  K.C.B. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  I45 

dreadful  but  just  act  of  God  ;  but  though  miserable,  they  are  still 
not  without  sincerity  and  feeling  for  those  whom  they  ought  to  love 
and  value. 

Ever  most  truly  your  unhappy  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke   to  Windham. 

(Burke  Corn  iv.  251.) 


December  30,   1794. 


My  dear  Sir 

I  send  this  to  you  by  Fred.  North'.  Many  months  have 
not  passed  since  I  was  in  hopes  of  sending  you  another  sort  of 
assistance  than  you  are  likely  to  receive  from  any  hints  I  can  give 
you.  I  was  in  hopes  of  sending  to  you  a  person  who  would  have 
fought  under  you  in  this  cause  with  a  pure  and  ardent  zeal,  with 
powerful  abilities,  and  with  a  manly  fortitude  that  I  am  convinced 
never  was  exceeded,  and  I  am  persuaded  was  rarely  matched  amongst 
the  sons  of  men.  But  just  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  demonstrating 
to  the  world  what  was  so  well  known  to  me  and  to  a  few  others,  it 
pleased  the  Great  Disposer,  who  gave  to  him  those  powers  and 
dispositions,  to  determine  upon  some  other  sphere  for  their  employ- 
ment. Well !  with  this  loss  I  have  not  lost  all  interest  in  the  fate  of 
all  human  concerns.  No  less  than  the  whole  of  these  depend  on  the 
issue  of  the  present  counsels.  You  have  my  most  ardent  vows  for 
an  auspicious  beginning  and  a  happy  close  to  this  session.  You 
remember  the  point  I  pressed  to  you  with  so  much  earnestness  at 
our  parting.  I  should  not  have  urged  it  with  all  that  importunity, 
if  I  did  not  know  that  you  and  your  colleagues  must  meet  several 
who  will  hold  to  you  a  very  different  language.  I  am  apprehensive 
that  resort  will  be  had  to  those  trivial  maxims  of  an  improvident 
timidity,  which  some  call  prudence,  to  recommend  to  you  a  conduct 
opposite  to  that  which,  with  all  the  liberty  of  a  sincere  friendship, 

'  Hon.    Frederick  North,  afterwards   5th   Earl    of  Guilford    and  celebrated  as  a 
bibliophile.     He  was  sent  to  Corsica  as  Secretary  of  State  under  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot. 

B.-W.  C.  19 


146  BITRKE   TO    WINDHAM 

I  recommend  to  all  of  you.  Depend  upon  it  that  the  party,  whether 
it  be  opposition  or  ministry,  which  is  driven  to  act  upon  the  defensive 
in  this  session,  will  be  ruined.  Arms  are  not  yet  taken  up ;  but 
virtually  you  are  in  a  civil  war.  You  are  not  people  of  differing 
opinions  in  a  public  council  ; — you  are  enemies,  that  must  subdue  or 
be  subdued,  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  \{  your  hands  are  not  on 
your  swords,  their  knives  will  be  at  your  throats.  There  is  no 
medium, — there  is  no  temperament, — there  is  no  compromise  with 
Jacobinism. 

This  is  an  unfortunate  state  of  things  ;  but  it  is  your  state,  and  you 
must  conform  to  it.  There  will  be  a  change  of  tone.  Some  designs, 
without  being  at  all  abandoned,  will  appear  to  be  postponed.  But 
all  this  is,  on  the  one  hand,  to  abate  all  salutary  alarm  on  your  side, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  attack  you  with  the  greatest  skill. 
The  country  is  not  yet  lost  to  you  ;  but  it  is  in  a  very  dubious  state. 
My  clear  opinion  is  that  if  you  excite  a  spirit  in  the  people,  which  in 
part  at  least  is  ever  the  effect  of  art  and  management,  it  will  carry  you 
through  every  thing.  If  you  do  not,  you  will  sink  under  the  very 
weight  of  your  own  works.  You  and  the  people  you  neglect  will 
together  have  the  lot  of  those  who  will  choose  to  go  to  sleep  on  the 
edge  of  Dover  cliff.  The  public  is  on  the  very  point  of  ruin,  when 
the  government  of  the  country  is  dishonoured  by  its  tribunals.  When 
the  laws  protect  those  who  conspire  against  those  laws,  and  when 
there  is  an  army  at  hand  to  support  them  in  all  their  enterprises, 
what  ordinary  measures,  taken  out  of  the  stores  of  daily  routine,  will 
suffice  for  our  preservation  ?  As  yet  the  house  is  not  fallen,  but  it  is 
completely  undermined.  If  a  spirit  is  once  raised  and  (what  is  very 
material)  employed  in  its  first  fervours,  such  an  association  as  was 
set  on  foot  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  scrutinies,  tests, 
and  abjurations,  suited  to  these  times  and  these  occasions,  instead  of 
the  old  nonsense,  may  be  adopted  with  success.  After  the  revolution 
such  an  association  was  copied  from  the  proceedings  in  the  time  of 
Elizabeth.  God  forbid  that  we  should  attempt  to  be  wise  by  prece- 
dent. But  settled  governments  have  not  the  bold  resources  of  new 
experimental  systems.  They  must  have  some  eye  to  example,  if  it 
were  only  to  encourage  those  whom  every  new  measure  in  their  own 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  1 47 

defence  frightens  more  than  all  the  new  measures  of  attack  adopted 
by  their  adversaries.  But  sure  I  am,  that  we  ought  to  approach  as 
nearly  as  our  circumstances  will  permit  to  the  decisive  character  of 
the  new  enemy  we  have  to  contend  with  abroad  and  at  home.  If 
something  of  this  kind  is  not  done,  and  attended  with  a  correspondent 
course  of  systematic  action,  associations  of  another  kind  will  by  and 
by  be  formed,  and  by  the  irresistible  cry  of  the  people  you  will  be 
forced  to  deliver  yourselves,  your  king  and  your  country,  under  the 
false  and  insidious  name  of  peace,  bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  mercy 
of  the  united  Jacobins  of  France  and  England.  Through  the  whole 
session,  from  the  sounding  of  the  first  trumpet,  I  recommend  to  you 
to  hold,  not  only  a  firm  and  resolved  language,  but  a  high  criminating 
tone,  as  far  as  the  forms  of  Parliament  will  permit.  I  have  much  on 
my  mind  upon  this  subject,  particularly  on  your  manner  of  conducting 
the  debate,  so  as  to  put  it  into  a  tactic  for  the  mutual  support  of  each 
other.  But  North's  chaise  is  at  the  door.  I  rejoice  to  find  him 
employed.  I  wish  he  may  be  able  to  find  his  kingdom  in  the  map 
of  the  British  territories.  Corsica  may  not  be  able  to  preserve  Italy, 
but  without  it  I  should  give  Italy  for  lost.  Why,  instead  of  Corsica, 
is  not  North  sent  to  Rome,  to  form  an  Italian  league,  and  to  raise  an 
army  in  the  Ecclesiastic  States  (not  yet  exhausted  with  levies)  for 
the  defence  of  that  island  in  the  first  instance,  and  after,  to  throw  in 
wherever  it  may  be  wanted  ?  May  God  preserve  you  all  in  the  great 
conflict  you  are  to  go  through,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ! 

Ever,  ever  yours 

Edm.   Bukke. 

A  better  year — may  we  have  it — melioribus  opto  auspiciis. 


19 —  2 


148  burke  to  windham 

Burke  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  55-) 

Jarin  7,   1795. 

My  dear  Sir, 

Do  not  think  I  call  for  an  answer  when  I  trouble  you 
with  a  line :  I  know  too  well  the  value  of  your  time  ;  and  the  dread- 
fully critical  nature  of  the  affairs  you  are  engaged  in.  Our  friend 
D""  Walker  King,  at  breakfast  this  morning,  read  me  an  account  of 
your  speech'  from  a  paper  called  the  Sun.  I  know  that  none  of 
these  reporters  do  you  justice.  But  here  I  think  they  have  done 
better  than  usual.  As  to  you,  you  have  done  just  what  you  ought ; 
and  just  as  you  ought — with  a  full  possession  of  yourself,  firm, 
rational,  manly,  with  a  proper  notice  of  the  foolish  declamations 
and  low  calumnies  against  you,  and  with  a  just  animadversion,  a 
proper  scorn  of  them.  You  have  hit  the  true  Method  of  defence  ; 
and  in  my  opinion  have  done  the  adversary,  (who  sets  himself  at  jj'^'m, 
and  who  aims  at  nothing  less  than  your  life,  property  and  fame,  and 
that  pretty  declaredly)  more  harm,  and  yourself  more  good,  than  by 
any  speech,  amongst  the  many  good  ones,  you  have  made  in  your 
life.  I  think  he  must  have  sunk  under  it.  But  do  not  think  that 
he  will  not  rise  again  and  try  his  old  arts — that  he  will  most 
assuredly  ;  and  he  will  get  his  and  your  friend'- — -(a  name  you  very 
properly  resolve  to  hang  up  in  the  townhall  for  a  while)  to  retract 
his  moderation  and  join  him  in  the  attack.  I  expect  others  will 
support  you  as  they  ought  to  do.  But  be  that  as  it  will ;  be  as  true 
to  yourself  as  hitherto  you  have  been  ;  and  others  will  want  support 
more  from  you  than  you  from  them.  Nothing  pleased  me  more  in 
your  speech  than  your  develloping  the  little  arts  and  schemes  of 
policy  and  the  mean  spirit  and  genius  of  the  intrigue  w'^'^  gives  rise 

'  On  Sheridan's  motion  for  the  repeal  of  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act,  5  Jan.  1795. 

^  Sheridan  in  the  speech  referred  to  had  called  attention  to  the  breach  now 
declared  between  Windham  and  Fo-x.  "  He  recollected  that  on  a  former  occasion 
he  (W.)  would  not  give  up  the  title  of  '  friend '  till  his  right  hon.  friend  had  first  given 
him  a  hint  for  that  purpose.  He  had  not  waited  for  the  hint :  he  had  now  renounced 
the  title." 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 49 

to  the  proceedings  and  speeches  against  you.  Keep  this  always  in 
view,  and  your  mind  tense  and  alert  with  regard  to  these  attacks,  to 
which,  to  your  infinite  honour,  you  will  be  more  subject  than  any 
other  man.  When  anything  comes  on  about  Parliamentary  reform, 
or  you  foresee  it,  pray  let  nie  know,  that  I  may  unlauderdale  myself. 
Will  you  condescend  to  read  a  few  lines  from  me ;  and  add  your  own 
Testimony  that  in  our  long  acquaintance  you  never  found  me  bold 
enough  to  undertake  for  myself,  or  submissive  enough  to  the  M^il/s 
of  others,  to  be  assiduously  active,  as  the  Lauderdale  style  expresses 
it,  in  what  is  greatly  miscalled  Parliamentary  reform  ? 

Pray  stick  to  the  Method  of  detecting  the  low  policies  and 
stratagems  which  characterise  Sheridanism.  This  is  the  right 
handle.  You  are  become,  by  being  Patron  of  the  emigrants, 
enough  of  a  French  Chevalier,  to  be  pleased  with  the  praises  of 
any  Lady,  even  of  one  old  Lady.  M''^  Burke  is  quite  happy  about 
your  speech.     We  were  in  truth,  all  of  us,  very  anxious  about  you. 

Have  you  read  D'Yvernois'  pamphlet'  about  the  Revolution  of 
Geneva  ?  I  don't  know  whether  it  be  translated  ;  if  not,  with  a 
proper  preface,  it  ought  to  be,  and  printed  and  circulated  at  the 
Charge  of  Gov^ 

Don't  make  any  further  apology  about  Juries.  It  is  the  Business 
and  the  Privilege  of  the  H.  of  C.  to  examine  Courts  of  Judicature  in 
every  part  of  their  constitution  and  conduct. 

Ever,  my  d""  Sir, 

most  faithfully  y'"  unhappy  friend 
Edm.   Burke. 


The  preliminaries  to  the  final  stage  of  the  Hastings  Trial  began 
on  13  Jan.  1795,  with  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  inspect  the 
journals  as  to  the  mode  of  giving  judgment.  The  trial  ended  with 
the  acquittal  on  23  April. 

^  Reflexions  sur  la  Guerre.     The  author,  Francois  DTvernois,  was  knighted  l>y 
George  III,  11   May  1796. 


150  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 


Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.   37843,  f-   57-) 


Jarfi  8,    1795. 


My  dear  Sir, 

God  knows  what  a  bitterness  I  feel  in  my  mouth  in 
returning  to  my  Indian  Vomit.  But  the  very  being  of  pubHck 
Justice,  perhaps  of  Pari*,  itself,  is  concerned  in  it.  The  Lords 
cannot  go  on  with''  a  Syllabus.  It  is  a  thousand  to  one  they  will 
get  that  Rogue  Cowper'  to  make  one.  One  is  preparing  on  our 
side,  which,  as  it  goes  on,  I  wish  printed.  Pray  talk  to  Francis  and 
to  M'"  Pitt  about  it — to  the  Speaker  of  course.  I  have  written  to 
him.  I  should  hate  to  be  obliged  to  pass  my  last  hours  in  discrediting 
the  supreme  Judicature  of  this  Country.  But  this,  if  in  some  tolerable 
way  they  do  not  do  their  Duty,  I  must  do,  and  even  leave  it  as  a 
Legacy,  if  I  should  not  live  to  finish  it.  Justice  is  better  than 
Judicature ;  and  I  see  no  one  publick  good  that  can  arise  from 
handing  down  you  and  me  and  others  our  colleagues  (to  say  nothing 
of  the  House)  in  the  infamous  Light  of  false  accusers — in  order  to 
save  the  credit  of  Thurlow  and  Eyre  and  Buller  &c.  &c.  &c. 

I  think  the  Lords  had  better  be  got  to  make  another  adjournment 
(for  reasons  relative  to  themselves)  whilst  our  Syllabus  is  printing. 
I  know  you  have  little  time — but  I  only  wish  you  to  help  to  put 
things  into  train. 

Various  things  have  occurred  to  me  relative  to  Sheridan's  attack 
on  you.  I  may  send  some  of  them  to  you,  as  hints  you  may  improve 
on  if  you  think  it  worth  your  while. 

Adieu,  God  bless  you.     Y''  ever  unhappy  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 


>  Probably   Henry   Cowper,   Assistant   to   the   Clerk  of  the    Parliaments,  son   of 
General  Spencer  Cowper,  the  poet's  cousin. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  151 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-  59-) 


{Jan.   1795.] 


Sampson  !     The  Philistins  be  upon  thee ! 

Depend  upon  it  that  if  some  speedy,  well  combined  and 
steadily  executed  Measures  are  not  adopted  at  this  Crisis,  you  will 
be  overpowr'd  by  a  Storm  of  Petitions  from  all  Parts  of  England, 
praying  in  a  mixture  of  supplication  and  menace  that  we  may  be 
delivered  over  bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  mercy  of  the  united 
Jacobins  of  England  and  France.  That  union  is  no  longer  pro- 
blematical ;  nor  can  we  be  any  longer  Lulled  with  the  hope,  that 
property  is  a  security,  either  against  passion  or  delusion. 

In  my  poor  opinion,  when  the  Norwich  petition'  is  brought  up, 
the  House  ought  to  come  to  a  strong  and  decisive  resolution  on  the 
subject ;  not  to  impeach  the  right  of  Petition,  but  effectually  to  put 
a  Bar  to  the  Hope  of  success  to  all  Petitions  of  that  kind.  The 
Resolution  ought  to  be  declaratory  of  a  steady  opinion  and  deter- 
mination that  no  part  of  Europe,  and  least  of  all  this  part  of  it,  is 
safe,  whilst  any  power  under  any  Name  exists  in  France  professing 
the  principles  and  executing  the  Views  and  actuated  by  the  policy 
which  has  made  the  predominant  Faction  there  so  mischievous  to 
Religion,  Laws,  Manners,  Commerce  and  the  common  Liberty  and 
independence  of  all  Nations  and  all  Governments  ;  to  state  the  loss 
of  Holland  and  the  utter  ruin  to  all  the  Commerce  and  power  of 
G.  B.  from  that  loss,  and  the  impossibility,  whilst  that  and  the  other 
places  ravish'd  from  our  Allies  remain  in  their  hands,  for  any  sort  of 
secure  peace  to  exist ;  and  that  what  they  have  seized  upon  by  force, 
never  can  be  won  from  them  by  supplication. 

Will  they  give  these  places  up  without  an  equivalent  .^  What 
equivalent  have  any  of  the  Allies  to  offer  except  ourselves  ?  What 
is  our  equivalent .''  The  places  we  have  taken  in  the  West  Indies  for 
the  absolute  security  of  our  Colonies.  What  in  that  case  shall  hinder 
them  from  doing,  what  they  have  threatened  and  are  well  able  to 
'  Against  the  war,  presented  5  Feb.  1 795. 


152  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

execute — that  is  to  pour  an  hundred  thousand  Negroes  and  men  of 
Colour  into  our  Islands,  which  agaipst  that  kind  of  force  could  not 
make  an  hour's  resistance  ?  I  don't  open  this  or  the  other  Topics 
at  length.     An  hint  is  enough  for  you. 

Why  should  not  the  two  houses  prepare  a  Manifesto,  whether 
in  form  of  a  Representation  to  the  Crown  or  otherwise  ?  What 
signifies  the  precedent  ?  Whilst  this  is  in  debate,  both  Houses 
ought  to  be  shut.  The  more  unusual  and  the  more  alarming  the 
better.      Nothing  but  security  can  do  us  mischief 

"  Nothing  to  us  what  Gov*  prevails  in  France." — No  certainly 
not ;  but  it  is  of  infinite  consequence  to  us,  what  sort  of  Robbery 
prevails  in  France,  and  what  the  genius,  temper,  policy  and  means 
of  that  Robbery  are. 

I  had  thrown  down  many  thoughts,  in  a  very  loose  way,  when 
I  heard  of  the  loss  of  Holland  ;  a  thing  which  however  it  was  plain 
enough  must  happen.  But  I  have  for  some  days  thrown  aside  the 
Paper,  being  very  sure  that  my  Ideas  would  not  all  be  suited  to  the 
Temper  that  prevails  at  present — and  that  something  of  an  odd  but 
necessary  composition  of  more  fear  and  more  courage  would  be 
necessary  to  give  them  any  sort  of  Effect. 

Indeed  you  are,  all  ;  you  are  eminently  threaten'd  with  their 
Guillotines.  When  Sheridan  makes  you  responsible,  it  is  not  for 
what  you  have  done  as  Minister — but  for  your  Votes  as  a  Member 
of  Pari*,  before  you  ever  were  in  Office.  Our  Constitution  cannot 
make  you  responsible  for  this.  It  must  be  one  of  his  Revolutionary 
Tribunals — "there,"  says  he,  "sophistry  and  influence  cannot  save 
you."  No,  unquestionably ;  nor  law,  nor  justice  neither.  I  have  thought 
on  what  I  wrote  to  you  in  the  beginning  of  the  Session.  I  am  still  in 
the  same  opinions.  I  don't  sign  my  name,  lest  you  should  think  your- 
self obliged  to  answer — which  these  hints  don't  require  or  perhaps 
deserve.  Adieu,  God  direct  you  all.  You  are  in  a  new  way — and 
your  New  Wine  cannot  do  in  the  Old  Leathern  Bottles. 

Is  the  French  Fleet  at  L'Orient  ?  I  have  been  there.  With 
the  Force  you  have  at  Falmouth,  by  crossing  a  little  Country  you  may 
burn  them  in  the  Harbour. 


WINDHAM  S    DIARY  1 53 

On  1 8  Feb.,  after  a  cabinet  dinner,  Windham's  Diary  tells  of 
a  lengthy  discussion  "on  the  important  and  delicate  crisis  formed  by 
the  last  letters  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  which  the  Duke  of  Portland  had 
showed  to  me  at  St.  James's."  The  arrangement,  whereby  Fitzwilliam 
went  to  Ireland  deprived  of  the  power  to  carry  out  those  changes 
which  he  had  authorised  his  friends  there  to  expect,  had  in  fact 
broken  down,  just  as  Burke  had  foreseen  that  it  would.  He  had 
landed  on  a  Sunday  and  on  the  Wednesday  following  dismissed 
John  Beresford',  a  man  who,  in  Fitzwilliam's  own  words  spoken 
to  the  House  of  Lords  after  his  return,  "  filled  a  situation  greater 
than  that  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant,"  and  with  whom  "  if  he  had  con- 
nected himself,  it  would  have  been  connecting  himself  with  a  person 
under  universal  heavy  suspicions  and  subjecting  his  government  to 
all  the  opprobrium  and  unpopularity  attendant  upon  his  mal-adminis- 
tration."  This  was  not  the  spirit  in  which  a  coalition  government 
could  be  conducted,  and  it  was  apparently  through  Windham  (in  a 
private  letter  from  him  to  Fitzwilliam's  secretary.  Lord  Milton, 
about  2  Feb.)  that  the  Lord  Lieutenant  was  first  informed  of  the 
view  which   Pitt  took  of  his  action^ 


Earl    Fitzwilliam   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37875,  f.  I.) 

Dublin  Castle,  March  i"  '95. 

Sir 

I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter  of  the  24'^  ult : 
expressing  your  wish  for  M'^  Grattan's  presence  in  England,  but 
not  specifying  that  of  any  other  member  of  that  cabinet  which  has 
unanimously  reprobated  generally  the  measures  of  my  administration, 
and  on  that  account  has  recall'd  me.     I  have  not  recommended  to 

'  Second  son  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone;  his  office.  First  Commissioner  of  Revenue, 
conveys  no  idea  of  the  power  he  wielded  under  Pitt's  administration. 
'  FitzwilHam's  Second  Letter  to  Lord  Carlisle,  p.  14. 

B.-w.  c.  20 


154  FITZWILLIAM    TO    WINDHAM 

M''  Grattan  to  take  the  journey,  but  to  wait  till  it  is  made  the 
unanimous  request  of  that  cabinet  that  he  should  do  so.  I  have 
the  honor  to  be,   with  great  respect, 

Sir,  your  most  obed.  humble  ser* 

Wentworth  Fitzwilliam. 


Windham   to   Earl    Fitzwilliam. 

(Add.  MS.  37875,  f.  5.) 

Hill  St".     March  5""  1795. 

My  Lord, 

I  have  received  your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  i'^''  Inst: 
and  am  sorry  to  find  that  by  an  act  of  zeal,  hasty  perhaps  and 
injudicious,  but  certainly  well-intended,  I  have  exposed  myself  to 
a  reception  which  acts  of  that  sort  are  apt  at  times  to  meet  with. 

With  respect  to  disapprobation  of  measures,  I  know  of  none,  to 
which  your  Excellency  can  allude,  except  an  opinion,  which  I  cannot 
but  distinctly  avow,  that  a  great  part  of  your  Excellency's  measures 
have  been  in  direct  opposition  to  what  I  had  understood  to  have 
been  agreed  upon,  either  directly  or  by  implication,  in  the  conversa- 
tion which  took  place  in  Downing  Street,  a  little  previous  to  your 
Excellency's  departure  ;  I  mean  particularly  in  the  appointment  of 
M''  W.  Ponsonby,  the  appointment  of  M'"  G.  Ponsonby,  the  removal 
of  M*"  Beresford,  and  in  the  bringing  forward  the  Catholick  question, 
so  far  as  your  Excellency  approved  of,  or  was  concerned  in,  that 
measure,  before  a  communication  could  be  had  with  this  country. 

If  in  this  opinion  I  have  the  misfortune  to  differ  with  your 
Excellency,  I  have  the  consolation,  I  believe,  of  agreeing  with  every 
other  person  who  was  present  at  that  conversation. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

Your  Excellency's  most  obedient  Humble  servant 

W.  Windham. 


burke  to  windham  155 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-  61.) 

March  6  [1795]- 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  beg  you  to  return  to  me  the  two  letters  which  I  put 
into  your  hands  last  night— as  I  must  answer  them  by  the  unfaithful 
post  of  this— that  my  correspondant  may  have  my  thoughts  after  the 
previous  perusal  of  Messers  Lees'  and  Shawel  What  answer  am 
I  to  give  about  the  Catholick  Colleges?  I  have  not  yet  seen  the 
D.  of  Portland.  I  have  on  that  subject,  as  on  that  of  the  Protestant 
Schools,  had  much  serious  talk  with  the  dismounted  Grattan  and  his 
friend  Forbes.  Our  ideas  were  in  perfect  union,  but  Cooke',  Lees, 
Hamilton^  and  Griffiths"  will  be  better  heard  than  we  on  this 
subject,  or  on  any  subject.  I  have  long  groaned  at  seeing  that  great 
Kingdom  delivered  over  to  such  hands.     God  bless  you. 

Ever  y""  unhappy  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 

I  have  had,  in  two  days,  four  hours  conversation  with  M''  Dundas, 
who  heard  me  with  a  great  deal  of  kindness  and  good  Temper. 
I  am  sure  that  what  I  said  to  him  (which  is  said  to  M'"  Pitt  also  thro' 
him)  was  founded  [on]  a  just  observation  of  Facts  and  upon  no 
grossly  misunderstood  principles  of  policy,  though  coming  thro'  the 
most  imperfect  organ  in  the  world.  I  am  sure  it  pointed  to  the 
security  of  M''  Pitt's  power,  to  w'^  there  is  not  a  man  in  this  Kingdom 
more  inclined  than  myself.  This  I  know,  that  if  he  makes  it  the 
principle  of  his  Adm"  not  to  gain  men,  but  to  ruin  those  who  being 
aggregated  to  him  seem  to  deviate  from  the  exact  path  he  prescribes ; 
and  if  he  goes  on  (at  the  advice  of  the  stupidest  and  most  interested 
of    mankind)    to    construe    every    equivocal    appearance,    owing    to 

1  Probably  John  Lees,  Secretary  to  the  Irish  Post  Office. 
^  Probably  Robert  Shaw,  Accountant-General  of  the  Post  Office. 
'  Edward  Cooke,  Irish  Under-Secretary,  Military  Department. 
*  Sackville  Hamilton,  Irish  Under-Secretary,  Civil  Department. 
'  Perhaps  Joseph  Griffiths,  Deputy  Serjeant-at-Arms. 


156  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

temper,  negligence  and  unskilful  management,  into  overt  acts  of 
a  settled  design  to  subvert  his  power,  He  will  thus  himself  suhve.vt 
that  power.  You  are  never  hereafter  to  look  for  strength  hy  Junction 
except  here  and  there  a  scatter'd  individual :  and  for  every  one  you 
gain  you  lose  two.  I  have  said  much,  and  my  postscript  is  longer 
than  my  Letter,  but  there  is  an   Iliad  of  woe  approaching. 


The  three  letters  of  Burke  to  Mrs  Crewe  which  follow  doubtless 
refer  to  this  affair,  but  their  exact  dates  and  order  are  uncertain. 

Burke   to    Mrs   Crewe. 

(Add.  MS.  37483,  f-  65.) 

[March  1795  ?] 

M^^  Burke,  my  dear  Madam,  has  been  employed  by  me  the 
greater  part  of  this  day  in  copying  some  Papers.  She  is  fatigued  and 
she  desires  me  to  answer  your  Note.  She  has  slept  ill  for  some 
Nights  past.  For  my  part,  Rest  had  in  a  manner  forsaken  me  for 
a  good  while,  till  last  night ;  when,  I  thank  God,  I  had  as  much 
sleep  as  I  pleased.  To  say  the  truth,  I  did  not  think  it  possible 
that  after  my  great  domestick  blow  I  should  ever  have  felt  pain  and 
anxiety  from  any  other  Cause.  But  I  did  not  calculate  rightly.  For 
a  year  past,  and  longer,  I  have  done  as  much  perhaps  as  ever  man  did 
to  bring  and  to  keep  people  together.  But  I  have  been  unfortunate. 
All  the  means  of  conciliation  I  have  used  have  become  so  many 
causes  of  contention.  In  that  contention,  I  am  certain,  I  have  had 
no  intentional  share  ;  as  certain,  as  that  I  have  had  my  full  share  in 
the  Punishment.  A  great  man  may  say,  that  this  too  is  poetick 
Justice  ;  and  it  may  be  so.  I  am  little  disposed  to  attack  others, 
and  not  much  more  so  to  defend  myself.  I  have  lived  ;  and  now 
I  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  die. 

The  Gentleman  you  mention  to  have  seen  at  L^  P.'s  has  always 
had  a  very  great  share  in  my  esteem.  He  did  me  the  honour  to  call 
at  Nerot's  Hotel  in  my  absence.     I  pity  him  very  much.     I  am  quite 


BURKE   TO    MRS    CREWE  1 57 

sure  he  always  acts  on  principle.  But  it  is  a  most  unfortunate  thing, 
when,  without  either  personal  Breach  or  party  Hostility,  an  opinion 
of  Duty  leads  a  man  to  execute  a  sentence  of  Punishment  on  a  man 
of  good  Character,  with  whom  he  has  lived  in  terms  of  Amity,  how 
deserved  soever  the  punishment  may  be.  But  every  man  will  judge 
best  for  himself.  It  was  in  a  manner  but  the  other  day,  and  before 
I  knew  that  L'*  M"'  would  go,  that  I  spoke  of  Pelham  as  the 
properest  man  in  the  world  to  go  Secretary  to  the  illustrious  Culprit 
who  is  now  coming  hither  under  an  accusation  ;  and  such  are  the 
Revolutions  of  the  world,  that  he  now  takes  the  Secretary's  place 
forfeited  under  the  accusation.  The  world  is  much  above  my  under- 
standing. As  to  the  proceedings  about  the  marriage,  I  wish  every 
thing  had  looked  more  auspiciously.  What  delays  the  bride"  ?  An 
hundred  ardent  Vows  are  uttered  for  an  Eastern  Gale.  Is  Pichegru's 
passport  necessary .''  Cannot  a  Prince  get  so  much  as  a  Wife  without 
the  leave  of  Democracy  ?  I  suppose  this  dreadful  case  stuns  all  the 
great  men  into  the  most  serious  recollection — and  the  Prince  is 
retired  to  Kempshot  to  meditate  on  this  great  change.  Has  he  seen 
the  Stadholder  ?  Dionysius  is  at  Corinth.  Well !  they  all  amaze 
me, — Princes,  Dukes,  Marquises,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
Secretaries  of  State.  My  heart  is  sick  ;  my  stomach  turns  ;  my  head 
grows  dizzy.  The  world  seems  to  me  to  reel  and  stagger.  The 
Crimes  of  Democracy  and  the  madness  and  folly  of  Aristocracy  alike 
frighten  and  confound  me.  The  only  refuge  is  in  God,  who  sees 
thro'  all  these  mazes.     Adieu !     God  bless  you  ever. 

E.   B. 


'  George  Damer,  Viscount  Milton,  afterwards  2nd  Earl  of  Dorchester.  Fitzwilliam 
was  in  the  odd  position  of  having  a  son  and  a  chief  secretary  each  of  them  styled 
Viscount  Milton. 

'  The  Prince  of  Wales'  bride,  Caroline  of  Brunswick.  She  left  Brunswick  30  Dec. 
1794,  but  the  squadron  sent  to  meet  her  had  to  return,  and  she  stayed  at  Hanover  till 
28  March,  arriving  in  England  5  April.     The  marriage  took  place  on  the  8th. 


158  burke  to  mrs  crewe 

Burke   to   Mrs   Crewe. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  67.) 

[Endorsed,  13  Mar.  1795-] 
You  write  to  me,  my  dear  Madam,  as  if  I  were  an  Enemy  to 
conciliation.  It  happens  to  be  the  very  reverse.  I  am  not  only 
favourable  to  it ;  but  the  only  man,  who,  with  as  many  Members  of 
the  Cabinet  as  I  could  touch,  moved  Heaven  and  Earth  to  procure  it. 
Don't  think  to  persuade  me  of  the  necessity  of  conciliation.  I  am 
persuaded  of  it — and  I  think  it  yet  possible,  if  I  am  listen'd  to  ;  but 
because  I  know  I  shall  not  be  listen'd  to,  I  do  not  think  it  possible, 
at  least  not  possible  for  me.  What  Ladies  may  do  I  know  not. 
I  do  know  that  they  have  many  Blandishments  and  many  charms 
which  it  would  be  ridiculous  for  an  old  man,  or  an  old  woman  such 
as  I  may  be  called,  to  attempt.  For  God's  sake  do  what  you  please 
and  what  you  [can].  I  have  written  my  Ideas  to  the  D.  of  Devon, 
to  shew  the  D.  of  Port*^  if  he  pleases.  To  be  sure  the  thing  may  be 
settled.  Let  L'^  F.  be  desired  to  stay  in  Ireland  and  Lord  Camden 
to  stay  here.  It  may  be  settled  in  a  moment.  The  rest  is  far  above 
me.      Let  the  Ladies  take  it — and  God  send  them  success. 


Burke   to    Mrs   Crewe. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  63.) 

^March   1795?] 

My  dear  Madam,  I  came  to  Town  but  for  a  day  ;  and  I  am  just 
this  instant  setting  off  on  my  return.  I  thank  you  for  the  kindness 
of  your  last  Note.  I  don't  thank  you  indeed  for  it,  as  if  it  were 
anything  new.  It  is  habitual  to  you  to  be  good  and  benevolent  and 
condescending  to  the  miserable.  The  number  of  that  description 
seems  to  encrease  every  day  and  in  every  Class  and  situation  of  life. 
I  feel  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  the  distresses  that  touch  you 


BURKE    TO    MRS    CREWE  1 59 

SO  much  to  the  quick  for  our  worthy  friend  at  Burlington  House'. 
I  read  the  part  of  your  letter  that  regards  him,  at  Lord  F.'s — where 
I  received  it.  He  was  exceedingly  affected.  So  was  Lady  Fitz- 
william.  But  how  either  of  the  parties  can  do  anything  towards  the 
alleviation  of  their  common  sufferings  I  know  not.  Lord  F.  assured 
me  that  he  felt  with  the  utmost  Tenderness  for  what  his  old  friend 
must  suffer ;  that  his  heart  towards  him  was  exactly  in  its  old  place  ; 
that  the  change  in  their  relation  was  a  cause  of  great  grief  to  him  ; 
but  not  of  the  smallest  degree  of  resentment ;  that  the  Task  he  had 
to  go  through  was  one  imposed  upon  him  by  the  most  Tyrannical 
necessity — and  that  if  for  private  regards  and  feelings  (which  the 
world  would  construe  into  something  a  great  deal  worse)  he  was  to 
abandon  his  Cause — he  must  not  only  forfeit  his  own  Honour,  but  the 
Honour  and  Character  of  his  friends,  who  had  so  nobly  supported  his 
Government,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  that  had 
shewn  uncommon  marks  of  confidence  in  him — that  if  he  were  to 
compromise  in  these  points,  no  Englishman  after  him  would  be 
trusted  by  the  honourable  and  disinterested  part  of  that  Country.^ 
These  things  he  reiterated  with  great  sensibility,  but  with  great 
Temper,  over  and  over  again — as  indeed  he  had  done  at  several 
other  times.  It  is  a  woful  situation  of  things ;  which  time 
and  events  (that  do  more  to  bring  matters  to  rights  than  all  our 
endeavours)  can  alone  rectifye.  I  must  think  that  they  who 
saw,  step  by  step,  this  excellent  man  led  to  his  own  suicide,  for  such 
it  is  truly  in  a  publick  light,  must  be  inexpressibly  hard  hearted  not 
to  have  taken  some  measures  to  prevent  him  from  inflicting  that 
unheard  of  punishment,  on  his  friend  in  the  first  instance,  but  in  the 
end  much  more  surely  and  much  more  severely  upon  himself.  God 
bless  you  and  forward  all  your  wishes  and  labours  for  the  wretched. 
They  are  in  the  Great  Hotels,  in  the  Pompous  Colonnades,  in  the 
spacious  Courts,  in  the  Town  Gardens,  in  the  Titled  Heads,  and  the 
Hearts  covered  with  purple  Honours — in  great  fortunes  and  in  high 
offices — in  what  not  outward  shews  of  happiness  ;  as  well  as  in  the 
Cottages  of  starving  fugitives,  which  your  kindness  led  you  the  other 
day  to  visit, — with  this  woful  difference,  that  to  the  unhappy  of  the 

'  The  Duke  of  Portland. 


l6o  BURKE    TO    MRS    CREWE 

latter  you  may  bring  some  relief — not  to  the  former ;  their  sufferings 
are  out  of  the  reach  of  your  Charity.     The  Kings  are  all  gone  out  of 
Town.     May  heaven  give  us  better  days.     Adieu,  Adieu. 
Put  down  Lady  F.  for  a  subscriber. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  69.) 

Wednesday  [i  Apr.  1795]^ 
My  dear  Sir, 

The  other  Business  naturally  and  properly  occupies  you, 
yet  the  honour  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  of  ourselves,  in  our 
old  pursuit  of  Hastings'  delinquency  cannot  and  ought  not  to  escape 
you.  I  wish  you  would  have  a  word  with  the  Speaker  today  if 
possible  on  the  Subject. 

I  am  ever  y""^  faithfully 

Edm.  Burke. 

'  Endorsed,  April  2,  1795. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ASSISTANCE   TO   THE    EMIGRES. 

The  story  of  the  failure  of  the  Ouiberon  Bay  expedition  (27  June^ — 
21  July  1795),  the  most  substantial  effort  made  by  Pitt's  government 
to  carry  out  the  war  policy  advocated  by  Burke  and  Windham,  can- 
not be  told  in  the  space  available  here,  nor  do  we  find  references  to 
it  in  this  correspondence  occupying  so  great  a  place  as  we  might 
expect'.  The  apportionment  of  blame  however  for  that  failure,  and 
the  consideration  of  the  fatal  defects  of  temper  and  tact  in  the  leaders 
of  the  expedition,  would  not  help  us  to  understand  Burke's  attitude 
towards  the  war  so  much  as  do  his  letters  upon  topics,  such  as  the 
assistance  to  be  given  to  refugees  in  England,  which  might  seem  of 
comparatively  little  importance.  Burke  evidently  distrusted  Puisaye's 
ability,  probably  doubted  his  honesty,  but  it  was  not  these  misgivings 
that  drove  him  to  despair.  It  was  the  whole  spirit  in  which  the 
British  government  was  acting.  Pitt's  attitude  was  that  of  being 
willing  to  spend  money  on  the  war  when  he  felt  that  he  could  justify 
the  expense,  as  a  good  investment,  before  the  cool  judgement  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  Burke  wished  to  see  the  country  inflamed  with 
a  whole-hearted  indignation  and  a  partisanship  in  the  affairs  of  the 
French  that  would  have  left  it  only  open  to  the  ministry  to  justify 
what  they  had  not  done,  not  what  they  had  done,  to  push  on  the  war. 
His  passionate  feeling  for  the  French  monarchists  was  as  different 
from  Pitt's  cool  calculation  as  from  Sheridan's  sympathy  with  the 
revolutionaries. 

'  There  is  however  in  the  Windham  Papers  an  abundance  of  material  which  will 
doubtless  be  used,  in  conjunction  with  the  Puisaye  Papers  also  in  the  Museum,  to 
illustrate  this  episode.  See  also  Peiham's  MS.  Diary  for  interesting  discussions  of  the 
scheme  when  it  was  originally  proposed  in  Fejj.  1794. 

B.-w.  c.  21 


l62  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  71.) 

June  9  [1795]. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  said  so  much  to  so  little  purpose  to  our  friend 
Elliot'  about  the  scheme  of  the  new  Transportation  of  the  unhappy 
fugitive  Clergy  of   France — that  I  don't   know  how  I  can  justifye 
myself  in  troubling  you  again  on  the  Subject.      But  I  am  so  strongly 
impressed  with  the  mischief  of  this  new  exile  of  the  Reliquiae  Danaum 
that  I  cannot  forbear  once  more  to  warn  you  against  that  measure, 
both  on  their  account  and  on  yours.     At  this  moment  the  popular 
mind  is  in  a  very  unsettled  state — and  I  am  as  sure  as  I  live,  that  a 
vast  migration,  thro'  the  heart  of  the  Kingdom,  of  strangers  that  will 
be  consider'd  as  no  better  than  Vagrants,  Enemies,  and  rivals  of  the 
Poor  in  the  Bounty  of  the  Rich,  will  produce  an  ill  effect,  that  no 
ordinary  consideration  of  military  convenience  can  po.ssibly  counter- 
balance.   I  say  nothing  on  the  oeconomical  part  of  the  Question,  though 
it  is  evident  that  it  will  cost  twice  as  much  to  have  these  unfortunate 
people  twice  as  ill  off  as  they  are  at  present — where  they  are  fitted  to 
the  situation,  and  the  vicinage  reconcil'd  to  them  with  all  sort  of  good 
will  and  mutual  accommodation.     This  is  a  publick  Hospital,  and 
applied  to  that  use.      I  doubt  as  much  the  Justice  as  the  policy  of 
turning  people  out  of  your  Hospital,  when  you  have  once  possessed 
them  of  it.     Charity  has  its  own  Justice,  and  its  own  Rules,  as  well 
as  any  other  part  of  human  intercourse ;  and  if  I  give  a  Cottage  to  a 
poor  man  to  live  in,  I  have  no  more  right  to  turn  him  out  of  it  than 
if  I   had  let  it  to  him  for  Rent.     There  is  nothing  in  these  things 
voluntary  but  the  beginnings  of  them.    But  be  that  as  it  may — where 
in   the  world  can  you  arrange  them  ?     I  hear  of   Bolsover  Castle. 
This  is  like  the  D.  of  Portland's  generosity.    But  is  there  at  Bolsover 
(which  after  all  will  be  a  new  Exile  to  these  wretches)  the  market 
of  all  kinds  which  exists  at  Winchester .''    Excuse  me,  my  dear  friend, 

•  William  Elliot,  of  Wells. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 63 

this    importunity.      I    believe   you    will  be    the  first    to    repent  this 
M  easure. 

I  am  ever  most  faithfully  and  affection'J"  y'" 

EoM.  Burke. 

What  the  Devil  are  you  all  doing  about  the  Prince'  ?  If  you  are 
not  to  consider  him  as  a  Prince,  and  keep  him  as  such,  by  an 
honourable  establishment  of  a  Court — there  is  no  reason  why  you 
should  give  him  anything  on  his  private  and  personal  merits.  What 
is  a  Prince  with^  people  of  distinction  about  him  ?  If  he  were 
willing  to  give  up  this  Establishment  (and  I  am  afraid  he  is  but  too 
ready  to  do  it)  he  ought  not  to  be  permitted  so  to  do.  Fatal !  fatal 
Measure!  Put  the  animal,  if  you  will,  to  short  allowance.  But  for 
God's  sake,  save  the  Monarchy  if  you  can  ;  which  (neither  in  the 
possession  nor  succession)  can  be  anything,  but  by  its  attendance. 
The  D.  of  York  may  as  well  be  commander-in-chief  with''  a  company 
of  Soldiers,  as  a  King  or  P.  of  Wales  what  they  are  without  a  Court. 
It  ought  not  to  go  beyond  decorum.  But  that  ought  to  be.  He  is 
not,  and  cannot  be,  as  M'  F[ox]  and  M*"  S[heridan]  sometimes  repre- 
sent him — a  Gentleman.  He  is  a  prince  or  he  is  nothing.  If  you 
Ministers  are  firm,  the  H.  of  Commons  may  be  brought  to  reason — 
and  the  Prince  may,  by  suitable  means,  be  put  out  of  the  reach  of 
future  Debts.  Why  not  put  his  Houses,  Goods  &c.  out  of  the  reach 
of  Executions  ?  They  are  purchased  by  the  publick  and  are  the 
publick  property  ;  and  no  private  man,  no  not  the  Prince,  ought  to 
have  a  power  of  alienating  them.  Use — as  much  as  you  please  anci 
even  a  little  abuse — but  no  Dominion.  Why  not  make  it  an  act  of 
Bankruptcy  in  a  Dealer — a  misdemeanour  in  any  other,  to  credit 
him,  except  by  an  order  under  his  own  hand,  countersigned  by  his 
great  officers  .'*  For  his  private  expences  let  him  have  an  handsome 
privy  purse.  Abuse  let  there  be ;  but  let  there  be  limits  to  the  Abuse. 
These  restraints  are  no  humiliations.  Just  the  contrary.  They  are 
a  part,  a  necessary  part,  a  noble  part,  of  greatness.  They  are  only 
the  meanest  beings  in  the  Community  whose  Will  is  not  worthy  of 

'  The  subject  of  providing  for  the  payment  of  the  Prince  of  Wales'  debts  was 
before  the  House  of  Commons  from  the  ist  to  the  17th  of  June. 


1 64  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

a  Rule. — I  really  do  not  know  what  state  these  things  are  in.  In 
my  poor  Judgment  the  plan  first  stated  by  M''  Pitt  was  the  best — 
and  there  was  then  a  Majority  sufficient  to  carry  it.  Now  all  seems 
at  sea  again.  Let  the  allowance  be  what  it  will,  a  decent  Establish- 
ment ought  to  be  kept  up.  So  far  from  being  necessarily  expensive 
it  will  lessen  the  general  charge. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  73-) 


Half  past  10.     Saturday  even, 
[?27  June  1795.] 

My  dear  friend, 

A  thousand  and  a  thousand  thanks  for  your  good  news', 
which  would  indeed  have  effaced  a  thousand  Neglects,  if  any  Neglects 
there  could  have  been  on  your  part.  There  were  none  however.  But 
if  there  were,  sin  again,  and  again  make  the  same  attonement. 

I  pray  to  God  that  this  Victory,  opportune  and  important  as  you 
well  observe  it  is,  may  be  attended  with  all  its  natural  consequences. 
Whatever  others  may  be,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  chicane  about 
the  good  they  are  about  to  partake  of    I  wish  Mons^  Puissaye  every 
kind  of  advantage  and  glory  possible.     God  knows  how  much  his 
success  is  near  my  heart.      If  I  have  been  mistaken  in  my  man,  O  ! 
pray  let  the  mistake  be  attributed  to  its  proper  Cause,  and  its  proper 
author.      I  have  told  you  the  exact  truth  in  my  Letter  ;  and  I  should 
be  sorry  you  thought  me  the  Instrument  of  the  discontent  of  others. 
The  Enquiries  were  made  by  myself  oi  my  own  motion,  and  were  the 
fruits  of  my  own  extreme  anxiety — and  not  the  suggestions  of  any 
human  Creature.      If  the  facts  I  went  on  are  false,  and  that  this 
Gentleman  has  ever  distinguished  himself  in  a  military  Capacity,  or 
had  high  rank  in  the  army,  and  was  not  a  Democrate  in  the  first 
Assembly  and  afterwards,  and  was  not  a  Brissotine  Federalist,  acting 
under  Wimpfen — then  I  am  mistaken  in  my  Materials — but  I  faith- 
fully   assure    you    that    the    enquiries    were    my    own — and   all    the 
conclusions  which  gave  rise  to  my  apprehensions   my  own  entirely 
'  Probably  Lord  Bridport's  victory  off  L'Orient,  22  June. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 65 

and  absolutely.  It  is  three  months  (if  you  will  recollect)  since  I  was 
full  of  alarm  and  apprehension  on  reading  the  extraordinary  manifesto 
which  he  thought  proper  to  print,  abusing  and  insulting  all  the  French 
officers  of  distinction  on  account  of  "  Leur  triste  mediocrity."  For 
God's  sake  therefore,  my  dear  Sir,  put  the  saddle  on  the  right  Horse, 
and  do  not  be  provoked  by  my  folly  to  think  that  any  persons  are  so 
unnaturally  bent  on  their  own  destruction  as  to  wish  ill  success  to  this 
Expedition,  in  which  their  last  hopes  are  involved.  Don't  think  that 
even  I  can  wish  it  ill  success.  My  being  is  hardly  more  important  to 
me,  than'  the  good  Event  of  this  operation.  My  reasonings  may 
be,  and  I  suppose  they  are,  since  they  differ  from  yours,  perfectly 
absurd ;  but  I  am  unfortunately  but  too  capable  of  original  and 
idiopathick  absurdity,  and  do  not  want  to  have  it  infused  into  me, 
or  to  fall  into  the  follies  of  others  by  sympathy.  Indeed,  indeed, 
you  are  mistaken ;  and  though  it  would  grieve  me  beyond  description, 
to  be  for  a  moment  justly  under  your  displeasure,  it  would  grieve  me 
infinitely  more,  that  I  should  be  the  unhappy  means  of  others 
incurring  it  unjustly.  I  confess  I  did  feel  uneasy  when  I  found 
a  conjunto  expedition,  made  for  landing  by  force  in  an  Enemies 
Country,  strongly  fortified  and,  near  the  Coast  (as  I  always  under- 
stood), highly  disaffected  to  our  Cause,  under  the  Conduct  of  one 
of  whose  military  Capacity  I  never  heard  any  account  whatsoever : 
because  I  always  consider'd  this  sort  of  expedition  to  demand  very 
considerable  abilities,  much  beyond  others.  But  pray,  again  excuse 
a  weakness,  arising  not  from  a  wish  for  ill  success,  but  from  a  too 
great  anxiety  for  good  success.  Receive  my  hearty  congratulations 
on  what  is  past ;  my  ardent  wishes  for  what  is  depending ;  and  ten 
thousand  thanks  for  your  wonderful  exertions  in  this,  the  best  of  all 
causes — in  which  you  have  not  shewn  more  regard  to  the  general 
Interest,  than  humanity  to  many  meritorious  individuals.  Adieu. 
God  bless  your  future  endeavours — forgive  me  my  weakness,  and 

believe  me  ever  devotedly  yours 

Edm.   Burke. 

I  shall  soon  write  to  you  a  word  or  two  about  poor  Haviland. 

'  MS.  that. 


1 66  burke  to  windham 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  75-) 

Zo  July  [1795]. 

My  de.^r  Sir, 

I  am  at  the  Dregs  of  the  Vessel,  and  I  must  drink  what 
is  in  it.  How  I  shall  break  this  dreadful  affair'  to  the  poor  worthy 
Creature,  now  the  only  remains  of  my  family,  I  cannot  conceive. 
She  is  delicate  in  the  extreme,  and  far  gone  with  Child.  If  I  could 
conceal  it  from  her  by  any  arts  of  my  own,  her  Mother-in-law  would 
not  suffer  it.  In  other  respects  the  times  are  woful  indeed.  I  sup- 
pose the  utmost  I  hear  is  but  too  true.  Adieu !  thanks  for  your 
most  friendly  attentions.  Nothing  could  be  more  accommodating 
than  Dundas.      He  is  always  so.      But  the  thing  is  not  with  him. 

Ever  y'"  afflicted  friend 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  77-) 

Beconsfield.     Sept.  4,  1795. 
My  dear  Sir, 

It  is  the  vexatious  Privilege  of  Ministers,  among  many 

other  Privileges  not  very  pleasant,  to  be   teized  with   applications. 

A  man  like  me,  so  many  years  in  affairs  and  out  of  power,  either 

directly  or  by  his  friends  runs  up  an  arrear  of  kindness  received  by 

many  and  never  returned.      I  told  you  of  a  weakness  I  felt  after  as 

near    a    loss    in   the    West   Indies,    I    don't  say   nearer,  about  poor 

Cuppage'.     There  is  one  way,  and  I  believe  it  is  somewhat  in  your 

power,  to  keep  him  from  that  expedition,  which  is  to  give  him  an 

employment  in  the  Barrack  Line  as  one  of  Delancey's'  deputies.      It 

is  only  during  the  War.      It  is  commonly  given   to   Officers;    and 

'  The  death  of  Major  Thomas  Haviland,  45th  Regiment.  He  had  married  Mary 
Cecilia  French,  daughter  of  Burke's  sister  Juha. 

»  Captain  (afterwards  Colonel)  William  Cuppage,  Royal  Artillery,  a  second  cousin 
of  Burke's. 

^  Major-General  Oliver  Delancey,  Barrack-Master-General. 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  1 67 

I  believe  formerly  much  to  artillery  Officers.  No  other  class  seem 
to  have  naturally  better  pretensions  to  it — and  Cuppage's  Pretensions 
are  as  good  as  any.  He  is  of  long  standing, — and  much  service, 
particularly  in  the  long  siege  of  Gibraltar,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  and  received  a  wound,  the  cure  of  which  was  long  and  his 
suffering  great — the  recovery  was  indeed  almost  a  Miracle.  Can  you 
do  anything  in  this  way?  If  you  can,  I  am  sure  you  will  ;  for  it  is 
a  good  natured  act  and  for  a  worthy  person,  and  will  make  an  old 
and  attached  friend  of  yours,  sinking  under  age  and  calamity,  a  little 
more  quiet  in  Mind. 

I  am  ever.  My  d""  Sir, 

Most  cordially  yours 

Edm.   Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   79-) 


Sept.   15,   1795- 


My  dear  Sir, 

Though  I  talked  to  you  of  Botany  Bay',  I  said  not  a 
word  about  Penn  or  Wycomb.  I  really  thought  that  as  the  Troops 
who  were  to  be  barracked  at  Winchester  had  been  ordered  on  foreign 
service,  that  the  project  of  the  new  exile  of  the  French  Clergy  had 
been  laid  aside.  Even  if  necessary,  it  would  have  been  expensive  in 
a  great  degree  ;  vexatious  enough,  and  in  its  political  Effects  on  the 
publick  mind  not  a  little  critical.  But  you  were  not  got  to  London 
before  I  received  a  Letter  from  a  M*"  Anderson,  a  clergyman  at  Penn', 
whose  Observatory  and  Experimental  apparatus  I  wished  much  to 
show  you.  I  do  not  know  whether  in  official  Course  I  ought  to 
apply  to  you,  or  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  for  relief.  But  I  thought 
it  best  to  write  to  both  of  you.  I  have  sent  M^  Anderson's  Letter  to 
the  Duke.     Some  Barrack  Master,  as  we  are  told,  has  come,  just  as 

^  Possibly  this  refers  to  Lewis,  the  guardsman,  tried  for  riot  at  Charing  Cross.  On 
8  Nov.  Windham  wrote  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  suggesting  the  commutation  of  his 
sentence  to  transportation  for  life,  with  a  view  to  obtaining  evidence  against  his 
supposed  instigators;   see  Add.  MS.  37875,  f.  251. 

'  Rev.  Benjamin  Anderson,  afterwards  vicar  of  Penn. 


1 68  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

if  to  mark  quarters  in  an  Enemies  country.  Not  one  word  of  con- 
sultation with  the  two  Clergymen,  or  with  Lord  Curzon's  steward,  or 
with  myself  or  any  of  the  Farmers  or  Housekeepers  of  the  parish. 
From  ninety  to  an  hundred  Beds  are  put  up,  where  the  aged,  infirm 
and  healthy  are  all  crow[d]ed  together  just  like  Prisoners  of  War,  or 
Soldiers  not  averaging  one  and  twenty  years  in  a  Barrack,  without 
regard  to  propriety,  convenience  or  common  decency,  to  eat  sleep 
and  discharge  the  miserable  necessities  of  Nature  all  in  the  same 
place,  without  common  Room,  eating  place  or  Chappel.  The 
parishioners,  as  you  see  by  M""  Anderson's  Letter,  are  not  without 
apprehensions  of  contagion  by  having  so  many  persons  crowded 
together.  I  am  not  to  state  these  things  to  you.  They  have  no 
Firing,  no  Milk,  no  Butter,  no  Water,  no  Vegetables.  Those  who  are 
denied  Flesh  meat  near  one  half  the  year !  This  I  admit  is  better 
than  the  Jacobin  prison  preparatory  to  the  Guillotine.  But  these 
things  cannot  be  mixed.  An  Hospitable  House  however  straiten'd 
from  necessity,  is  not  to  resemble  a  noisome  and  pestilential  prison. 
I  understand  Wycomb  prison  is  fitted  up  in  the  same  manner.  For 
God's  sake,  would  it  do  any  harm  to  consult  me,  and  make  me  the 
Barrack  Commissaries  Aid  de  Camp  in  one  Barrack  in  the  Parish 
I  live  in,   the  other  in  my  near  neighbourhood  ? 

Oh  pray  save  us  all  ! 

Moore  of  Moorehall  ! 

Free  us  entirely  from  this  dreadful  Visitation  : 

Or  at  least  reduce  their  number  to  their  accommodation'! 

'  Adapted  from  the  ballad  of  Moore  of  Moore  Hall  and  the  Dragon  of  Wantky  : 

"  Oh  save  us,  Moore  of  Moore-Hall 
Thou  peerless  knight  of  these  Woods 
Do  but  slay  this  Dragon,  who  won't  leave  us  a  rag  on ; 
We'll  give  thee  all  our  Goods." 
Or,  more  probably,  from  Henry  Carey's  burlesque  opera,  T//e  Dragon  of  Wantky  (1763): 

"  Oh  save  us  all ! 
Moore  of  Moore-Hall ! 
Or  else  this  cursed  Dragon 
Will  plunder  our  Houses, 
Our  Daughters  and  Spouses, 
And  leave  us  the  Devil  a  rag  on." 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  1 69 

I  don't  consider,  I  assure  you,  the  expence  I  must  be  at  to 
render  their  Captivity  tolerable.  It  will  be  very  great.  But  I  shall 
endeavour  to  bear  it.  Why  may  they  not  be  in  London  with  the 
rest  of  their  Brethren,  to  shift  as  they  can  ?  Short  follies  are  the 
best — get  off  the  Houses  and  sell  the  Beds  as  you  can.  Depend 
upon  it,  the  saving  will  be  great,  even  incurring  expence  as  you  have 
done.  For  God's  sake  look  to  this,  and  excuse  the  trouble  I  give 
you.  For  fourteen  years  I  have  struggled  in  vain  to  save  India 
from  oppression.      Let  me  succeed  for  one  poor  Parish. 

My  dear  Sir,  ever  affect'>'  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to  Duke  of  Portland. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  81.) 

Beconsfield,  Ocl.  3,  1795. 
My  dear  Lord, 

We  are  much  obliged  to  our  excellent  friend  M''^  Crewe 
and  to  your  Grace  for  your  early  Care  in  preventing  that  severe 
alarm  we  must  have  felt,  on  thinking  on  any  dreadful  accident  that 
had  happen'd  to  her.  Her  loss  would  be  great,  not  only  to  us,  who 
want  abundantly  all  sorts  of  consolations,  but  to  thousands  of  the 
poor  and  necessitous,  to  whom  she  is  so  unwearied  in  her  charitable 
Patronage.  We  cannot  guess  of  what  nature  the  accident  was  :  but 
dreadful  it  must  have  been  and  truly  alarming.  This  day  the  Post 
does  not  go  from  hence,  but  I  send  this  by  the  Coach,  that  no  time 
should  be  lost  in  shewing  this  incomparable  person  the  interest  we 
take  in  her.  We  beg  your  Grace,  that  you  will  yourself  frank  the 
enclosed  to  M''^  Crewe,  or  desire  Mr  J.  King  to  do  it,  if  your  Grace 
is  pressed  in  time.  We  are  on  every  account  much  obliged  to  your 
Grace.     You  have  thought  of  us  in  your  absence,  and  our  Table  has 

B.-W.  C.  22 


lyo  BURKE    TO    PORTLAND 

found  the  effects  of  your  fruit  Garden.     Your  Grace  is  not  a  person 
to  be  rich  in  anything  for  yourself  alone. 

The  letter  I  wrote  to  your  Grace  was,  as  you  rightly  observe, 
formal  and  official,  as  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  because  I  expressed 
the  opinions  of  other  Parishioners  as  well  as  my  own.  Certainly  I 
never  thought  that  whatever  was  blameable  in  this  cruel  arrangement 
was  the  fault  of  your  Grace  or  any  other  Minister.  Nor  were  the 
second  or  third  line  of  subordinates  who  executed  it  perhaps  so  much 
to  blame.  They  considered  it  only  as  a  common  Barrack  for  soldiers, 
or  a  Jail  for  prisoners  of  War.  In  that  light  they  did  to  their  (sic)  best 
of  their  Judgment  :  as  to  the  Tradesmen  employed,  they  looked  for 
nothing  but  employment.  I  have  since  visited  the  House  prepared 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  at  Wycombe.  It  was  the  Antelope  Inn.  It 
is  still  a  worse  Habitation  than  that  of  Penn  in  every  point  of  view. 
The  Death  of  the  Persons  to  be  confined  in  it,  and  the  eftects  of  the 
contagion  to  others,  I  conceive  quite  certain.  Very  many  of  the 
Rooms  to  be  so  crowded  are  not  above  six  foot  three  in  height,  and 
four  or  five  of  them  have  no  communication  at  all  with  the  open  air ; 
their  miserable  Windows  opening  into  a  close  corridore.  None  of  the 
Rooms  are  above  seven  foot  high,  as  I  conceive.  There  is  no  Room 
whatsoever  to  sit  in,  to  read,  to  work  or  to  assemble ;  no  room  to  eat 
in  ;  no  Chappel.  Since  it  has  been  bought  on  the  part  of  Govern- 
ment, it  need  not  be  lost.  It  will  make  a  tolerable  Barrack; 
particularly  if  the  Stables,  turned  into  Bedchambers,  be  returned, 
which  at  little  expence  they  may  be,  back  to  their  old  destination. 
Soldiers,  who  do  not  average  five  and  twenty  years  old,  who  are 
taken  from  the  Classes  of  Life  most  inured  to  hardship,  and  who  at 
their  exercises  or  at  their  amusements  are  almost  always  sud  Dio, 
may  find  that  a  very  tolerable  place  to  turn  into  and  sleep  in,  which 
would  be  no  less  than  sorrow,  disease  and  Death  to  old  parochial 
Clergymen,  many  of  them  broken  with  infirmity  and  affliction,  as  a 
sedentary  residence  day  and  night,  without  any  means  of  comfort, 
religious  worship,  study  or  occupation.  I  am  quite  sure  that  an 
additional  allowance  made  to  them,  to  find  lodgings  as  they  can  in 
London,  on  all  accounts,  if  they  are  removed  from  Winchester,  would 
not  amount   to   half  the  charge  to  Government  incurred  by  this 


BtJRkE   TO    PORTLAND  I7I 

dreadful  Prison.      I  have  the  honour  to  be  with  the  most  affectionate 
and  respectful  attachment 

My  dear  Lord, 
Your  Grace's  most  obedient  and  ever  obliged  unhappy  old  friend 

Edm.   Burke. 

M""®  Burke  and  William  present  their  most  respectful  and  grateful 
compliments. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  83.) 

Beconsfield,  Oct.  10,  1795. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  King',  who  was  Cornet 

in  Loftus's  Dragoons,  that  you  have  removed  him  from  thence,  and 

promoted  him  to  a  Lieutenancy  in  the  26*^  Reg*  Light  Dragoons. 

I  feel  most  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for  your  Patronage  to  this 

young  man,  who,  I  am  persuaded,  will  do  no  sort  of  discredit  to  it. 

He  is  very  well  liked  in  the  Corps  from  which  your  kindness  has 

transplanted  him.     His  having  obtained  his  first  Commission  by  the 

means  of  your  late  friend,  my  dear  Son,  who,  if  it  had  pleased  God  to 

spare  him,  would  have  sollicited  your  goodness  for  this  Object,  has 

made  this    promotion  tenfold   more    pleasant  to  me.      A    thousand 

thanks  therefore  for  your  goodness.      It  is  pouring  some  balm  into 

an  heart  pierced  with  many  wounds — whilst  your  own  perhaps  stands 

in  want  of  some  for  what  you  feel  in  the  same  kind  with  me.     Our 

publick  Griefs  are  the  same — as  our  principles  and  our  Sentiments 

have  always   concurred. 

M""^  Burke  and  William,  and  Laurence"  desire  their  most  sincere 
compliments ;  and  believe  me  ever  most  truly  and  affectionately, 
My  dear  Sir,  your  most  faithful  and  obed*"  humble  ser* 

Edm.  Burke. 

Nagle  desires  to  be  respectfully  remember'd. 

'  Henry  King,  appointed  Lieutenant,  26th  Light  Dragoons,  12  Aug.  1795. 
'  French  Laurence,  the  civilian. 

22 — 2 


172 


windham  to  pitt 
Windham  to  Pitt. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  104.) 


Oct.  16,  '95. 


My  dear  Sir, 

Though  I  have  long  seen  and  lamented  the  little  disposi- 
tion that  there  is,  to  give  to  the  Royalist  cause  the  sort  of  support 
which  I  should  think  necessary  :  of  v^^hich  I  cannot  but  consider  the 
late  decision  of  the  Cabinet  as  a  new  and  unfortunate  proof;    yet 
there  is  one  species  of  assistance,  which  I  thought  it  was  agreed  to 
continue  without  abatement,  during  the  continuance  of  the  War.      I 
mean  that  of  arms,  ammunition  and  money.     Are  we  however  doing 
any  such   thing  ?     Independent  of  the   decision  which   I   have  just 
been  regretting,  and  which  will  have  the  effect,  I  fear,  of  lessening, 
in  an   immense  proportion,  the   facility  of  our  communication  with 
Charette',  there  are  no  less  than  seven  large  enrolments  of  people, 
that  may  not  be  improperly  called  armies,  the  lowest  being  8,000, 
and  the  highest  20,  or  25,  thousand,  some'  of  which  are  in  a  situation 
to  be  supplied  from  the  money  sent  from  Monsieur,  even  if  Monsieur 
should  find  the  means  of  landing,  and  of  taking  that  money  with 
him.     These  have  long  represented  their  capacity  and  disposition  to 
act,  and  to  make  important  diversions,  in  favour  of  Charette,  if  they 
could  be  assisted  by  means,  and  those  not  very  considerable  ones,  of 
assembling  and  putting  their  people  in  motion.     The  greatest  part 
of  these  are  under  the  conduct  of  people  perfectly  well  known  to  us, 
and  on  whom  entire  reliance  can  be  placed  for  a  due  application  of 
any  sums  entrusted  to  them.     Some  of  these  persons  are  here  ;  and 
for  the  others  there  [are]  agents  ready,  on  whom  an  equal  reliance 
might  be  placed. 

It  becomes  absolutely  necessary  to  come  to  some  resolution  on 
this  point.  For,  as  it  is,  these  persons  are  acting  under  a  persuasion 
that   no  assistance,  which   this   country  can  give  them,   of  the  sort 

'  Frangois  Athanase  Charette  de  la  Contrie,  general  of  the  royalists  of  La  Vendee. 
He  was  executed  at  Nantes,  1796. 
"  Sic.     ?  none. 


WINDHAM    TO    PITT  173 

above  described,  and  of  which  it  could  be  sure  of  the  appHcation, 
would  be  withheld.  To  say  the  truth,  I  feel  myself  in  a  very  un- 
pleasant situation  ;  for  having  uniformly  contributed  to  give  this 
persuasion,  in  some  instances  more  directly,  in  others  less  so,  if  a 
contrary  determination  is  taken,  or  if  this  is  not  certain  of  being 
acted  upon,  I  must  of  necessity  take  the  earliest  steps  to  undeceive 
them,  that  I  may  not  be  instrumental  in  leading  them  into  an  error 
so  fatal  as  that  of  expecting  [aid]  which  they  are  not  likely  to  receive. 
My  own  case  however  in  this  respect  is  litde  different  from  that  of 
any  other  member  of  the  Government  ;  except  inasmuch  as  I  may 
have  had  with  many  of  the  parties  more  personal  communication  ; 
for  nothing  that  I  have  conveyed  to  them  differs  from  that  which  is 
to  be  found  in  effect  in  various  publick  instruments,  both  written  and 
printed.  We  are  all  therefore  interested  in  coming  to  some  explicit 
determination  upon  the  subject  ;  and  interested  likewise,  that  this 
should  be  done  speedily,  in  order  that  no  more  precious  time  should 
be  lost,  of  which  there  has  been  already  a  great  deal,  if  the  intention 
has  been  to  give  to  the  force  still  subsisting  in  Brittany  all  the  effect 
of  which  I  think  [it  to]  be  capable.  I  am  the  more  anxious  to  under- 
stand distinctly  what  is  intended  with  respect  to  their  supplies,  as 
from  a  letter  of  M''  Dundas,  of  which  an  account  was  given  me 
yesterday,  I  am  apprehensive  that  some  idea  is  entertained  of  stop- 
ping in  degree  even  the  article  of  supply.  Perhaps  indeed  that 
alone,  seeing  the  great  difficulty  of  conveying  arms  into  the  country, 
will  do  very  little  :  and  that  if  other  means  are  not  employed,  that 
alone  is  hardly  worth  continuing. 

Though  the  whole  of  the  measure  of  evacuating  differs  so  much 
from  my  ideas  of  what  is  expedient,  so  far  as  I  am  at  present 
advised,  that  I  [am]  not  very  good  counsel  upon  it,  yet  I  cannot 
help  suggesting,  that  even  with  the  order  for  bringing  away  the 
troops,  it  may  be  very  necessary  to  send  out  considerable  supplies 
of  forage,  of  fuel,  and  even  of  temporary  buildings  ;  as  the  wind  may 
very  possibly  be  such  as  to  make  a  long  interval  before  the  embarka- 
tion, during  which  the  troops  for  the  want  of  those  articles  may  be 
very  grievously  distrest,  and  yet  communication  with  the  shore  not 
be  so  completely  cut  off  as  not  to  admit  the  articles  being  landed. 


174  WINDHAM    TO    PITT 

With  this  view,  whatever  is  so  sent  out  should  be  put  as  much  as 
possible  on  board  of  small  vessels. 

I  trouble  you  with  this  long  letter,  not  knowing  how  soon  you 
are  to  be  back. 

&c. 

W.  W. 


Pitt  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  106.) 

Walmer  Castle,   OcF  18,  1795. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  received  your  Letter  this  Morning,  and  tho'  I  cannot 
but  feel  the  Impossibility,  under  the  present  Circumstances,  of  risking 
any  further  operations  with  our  own  Troops  on  the  Coast  of  France,  I 
entirely  agree  with  you  in  the  Expediency  of  sending  liberal  Supplies 
of  Money,  wherever  We  have  reasonable  ground  to  hope  that  they 
will  not  be  misapplied.  I  have  accordingly  given  directions  for 
procuring  as  expeditiously  as  possible  a  further  Sum  of  ;^  100,000  in 
dollars. 

The  Precaution  you  suggest,  of  sending  Stores  &c.  for  our  own 
Troops,  with  a  view  to  their  possible  detention,  is  certainly  highly 
proper,  and  directions  have  been  sent  for  providing  the  most  neces- 
sary Articles.      I  shall  certainly  be  in  Town  on  Tuesday. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  most  sincerely 

W.   Pitt. 


BURKE    TO   WINDHAM  1 75 

The  following  letter  refers  to  Windham's  speech  on  the  Treason- 
able Practices  Bill,  i6  Nov.  1795. 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-  85.) 

Nov.   17,   1795 
My  dear  Sir, 

When  a  man  acts  only  like  himself,  and  in  his  usual 
manner,  he  hardly  expects  any  thanks.  You  could  not  hear  an 
attack  on  a  departed  friend,  and  not  say  something  in  his  favour, 
without  an  injury  to  your  natural  Character  and  a  violence  to  all  your 
feelings  ;  so  I  thank  you  for  acting  up  to  yourself.  You  could  not 
easily  do  more  upon  this,  or  upon  any  occasion.  As  to  what  you 
have  said  of  me,  it  belongs  to  your  own  partiality.  I  suppose  you 
were  induced  to  do  me  so  infinitely  more  than  justice,  from  the 
provocation  given  you  by  the  large  measure  of  injustice  dealt  out 
to  me  so  liberally  by  others.  After  seeing  my  young  Oxen  work, 
under  their  Herefordshire  Preceptor,  till  the  Rain  drove  me  in,  I  sat 
down  to  write  to  you,  not  this,  but  another  Letter  a  good  deal  more 
full.  In  that  I  indulged  in  some  reflexions  that  grew  out  of  the 
Debate.  I  could  not  finish  it.  Night,  dinner,  and  my  after-dinner's 
Nap  came  upon  me,  and  left  me  a  little  heavy.  I  had  made  some 
progress  in  a  Letter  to  Lord  Grenville,  who  behaved  handsomely  in 
the  House  of  Lords ;  in  that  I  took  some  Notice  (as  much  as  he 
deserved),  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  As  to  him  I  may  say — Tecum 
est  mihi  sermo  Rubelli /  Ah!  my  dear  friend — you  stood  for  me 
that  day  in  the  place  of  your  departed  friend  ;  and  I  mix  my  Tears 
for  him  with  my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  you.  I  had  one  to 
speak  a  word  in  that  house  for  a  person  who  had  spoken  many  a 
word  for  many  a  Man.  You  were  but  one  :  But  there  was  multitude 
in  that  Monad. 

By  the  way  does  not  Sheridan  rather  abuse  the  Privilege  of  his 
new  Kindred  with  the  Duke  of  Pordand  ;  and  make  a  little  too  free 
with  his  Cousin  }  Seriously  there  never  was  so  much  indecency. 
The  Number  of  these  Gentlemen  iu  the  House  is  not  yet  very  con- 
siderable— but  their  Style  seems  to  bespeak  confidence  in  Numbers 


176  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

elsewhere,  within  the  Kingdom,  or  within  the  neighbouring  Republick. 

It  was  said,  I  know  not  by  what  Spartan,  to  an  ambassador  of  I  know 

not  what  small  commonwealth,  "  Friend,  your  Speech  supposes  an 

Army!"     Their  speeches  certainly  do.      If  I  knew  nothing  but  from 

the  Papers,  I  should  think  they  contrived  to  keep  the  Haul  de  Pavde. 

M*"  Pitt  seems  to  have  begun  his  speech  in  a  perfectly  proper  manner  ; 

but  it  looks  as  if  he  were  beat  down  by  Clamours;  and  had  abandon'd 

the  Ground  he  had  so  advantageously  taken.     This  I   am  sure  of, 

that  it  is  perfectly  ridiculous,  after  all  that  has  happen'd,  to  affect 

to  consider'  the  present  traitorous  machinations,  or  any  other  of  the 

evils  of  our  time  as  attributable  to  a  Mob.      If  that  were  all,  tho'  in 

that  Case  I  should  not  despise  the  danger,  I  should  think  it  infinitely 

less  than  I  do.     The  body  of  the  People  is  untainted  in  all  Ranks, 

and  it  is  by  far  the  most  sound  in  the  humblest  of  all ;  But  there  is 

no  rank  or  class  into  which  the  Evil  of  Jacobinism  has  not  penetrated; 

and  that  disseminated  contagion  is  infinitely  more  mischievous  than 

if  it  had  seized  upon  the  ivhole  of  any  one  description — for  then  the 

whole  of  some  other  would  be  enabled  to  act  with  Union,  energy  and 

vigour  against  it.      But   it   will  happen  with   us,    I   fear,   as   it  has 

happen'd  in  France,  where  the  Crasis  of  the  blood  was  everywhere 

broke,    curdled,    and   in   a  manner    dissolved ;    and  this  led   to  the 

general   Dissolution. — As  to  the    Bills  you  have  in  hand,  they  are 

good,   so  far  as  they  go.      Valeant   qiiantum  valere  possunt.     You 

must  make  many  more  of  them,  and  after  all  the  whole  body  will  be 

effectual.      Do  you  not  trust  too  much  in  Laws,  and  take  men  too 

little   into  your   account  ?     Your  Magistrates   will    not    be    able    to 

balance,  or  even  to  stand  before  the  great  men,  who,  by  and  by, 

will  attend  those   meetings,  which   your   Bills   permit  and   in   vain 

endeavour  to  regulate.     They  raise  all  the  Clamour  of  the  strongest 

measure,  and  they  are  imbecillity  itself.     They  will  produce  other 

Bills,  the  Children  not  of  their  strength,  but  of  their  weakness  ;  and 

will  multiply  like  those  feeble  animals  who  increase  in  proportion  to 

their  insignificance.      "With  the  French  Republick  at  your  door — 

your  constitution  cannot  exist."     It  is  too  weak  to  protect  itself — 

Upon  every  trial  you  will  make  new  discoveries  of  its  impotence ; 

'  Interlined  in  pencil  "attribute." 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 77 

and  what  is  worse,  of  the  debility  of  the  materials  that  compose  it. 
If  you  attempt  to  change  it,  you  will  shake  the  Country  on  which 
it  stands  to  its  very  Centers  ;  and  let  in  the  very  Evil  you  mean  to 
prevent.  All  I  have  to  advise  at  present  is  that  you  will  follow  your 
Bills  for  the  safety  of  the  King's  Person  &c.  with  an  act  of  association, 
like  that  in  Queen  Elizabeth's,  and  that  in  King  William's  reign,  con- 
triving if  possible  to  discriminate,  by  some  effectual  Test,  and  what 
is  more  effectual,  by  the  Judicious  choice  of  some  Committees,  of 
weight  enough  to  call  upon  the  other  Associators  (always  under 
the  sanction  of  Government  for  their  acts,  and  their  existence  too) 
to  assist  them  with  their  whole  posse.  This  will  be  absolutely 
necessary  towards  making  a  regular  party  for  the  Constitution. 
But  still  remember,  I  say  all  this  protestando,  that  with  a  Fraternity 
with  the  Regicide  system  of  France  neither  any  thing  I  can  propose, 
or  that  can  come  from  Wisdom  ten  thousand  times  beyond  mine,  can 
even  adjourn  our  Ruin  for  a  very  short  period. 

Tread  cautiously  in  this  affair  of  Provisions.  What  did  Judge 
Ashurst  mean  by  the  Combinations  he  speaks  of?  That  part  of 
his  Speech  in  Westminster  Hall  seem'd  to  me  more  calculated  to 
inflame  the  people  (if  such  speech  he  did  make)  than  the  Speeches 
of  all  the  Demagogues  without.  O !  sad,  sad  Work !  By  the 
way  call  to  your  Clerk  Nagle  for  the  Copy  of  the  Memoire  I 
delivered  to  Mr  Pitt.  I  suppose  he  thought  nothing  of  it.  It 
certainly  called  for  no  answer.  The  Committee's  report  is  all  it 
can  be.  The  danger  is  their  going  further.  What  folly  it  is  to  re- 
commend Potatoes  to  the  People.  They  eat  already  all  they  have,  or 
can  get.  I  had  about  150  Bushels.  I  sell  them  at  20*^  by  pecks  and 
half  pecks.  In  a  few  days  I  shall  not  have  a  Potatoe  to  dispose  of — and 
none  of  my  Neighbours  have  any  ;  all  theirs  are  sold  ;  and  tomorrow 
or  next  day  I  shall  send  to  London  for  a  Ton  or  so  at  any  price. 

I  began  one  Letter  which  I  did  not  send  on  account  of  the  length 
it  was  growing  to  :  and  I  have  written  to  you  one  that  is  as  long  or 
longer  than  what  I  would  have  added.  Adieu.  Good  Night,  and 
God  bless  you.  We  shall  remember  you  and  your  Collegues  in  our 
private  Evening  prayer :  to  God  I  commend  you.  Again  and  again 
Adieu.  E.   B. 

B.-W.  C.  23 


1 78  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

On  23  Nov.  1795  Charles  Sturt,  member  for  Bridport,  upon 
bringing  in  a  petition  of  some  twelve  thousand  signatures,  in  the 
name  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  against  the  Treason 
and  Sedition  Bills,  took  occasion,  by  way  of  counterblast,  to  raise 
a  question  of  privilege  in  reference  to  a  pamphlet  entitled  Thouglits 
on  the  English  Government,  published  anonymously,  but  well  known 
to  be  the  work  of  John  Reeves,  the  King's  Printer,  who  was  also 
president  of  the  Association  against  Republicans  and  Levellers. 
Among  the  passages  read  was  one  in  which  Reeves  spoke  of  the 
government  of  England  as  essentially  a  monarchy:  "the  monarchy 
is  the  ancient  stock  from  which  have  sprung  those  goodly  branches 
of  the  legislature,  the  Lords  and  Commons,  that  at  the  same  time 
give  ornament  to  the  tree  and  afford  shelter  to  those  who  seek 
protection  under  it.  But  these  are  still  only  branches,  and  derive 
their  origin  and  their  nutriment  from  their  common  parent ;  they 
may  be  lopped  off,  and  the  tree  is  a  tree  still ;  shorn  indeed  of  its 
honours,  but  not,  like  them,  cast  into  the  fire.  The  kingly  govern- 
ment may  go  on  in  all  its  functions  without  Lords  or  Commons,  it 
has  heretofore  done  so  for  years  together,  and  in  our  times  it  does 
so  during  every  recess  of  parliament ;  but  without  the  king  his 
parliament  is  no  more."  This  was  sufficient  to  cause  Sheridan  to 
describe  it  as  "  the  foulest,  the  falsest,  the  dullest  and  the  most 
malicious  libel  that  had  ever  come  under  the  cognizance  of  the 
house'." 

Burke    to    Windham. 

(Add.   MS.  37843,  f.  88.) 

Wednesday  Evening,  half  past  nine. 
Nov.  29,  1795. 

Summum,   Brute,   nefas  civilia  Bella  fatemur 
sed  quo  fata  vocant  Virtus  secura  sequaturl — 

The  rest  is  a  rant  unworthy  the  Stoic  School,  and  the  person  in 
whose  mouth  it  is  put,  and  only  excusable  in  a  declaimer  of  five  and 
twenty,  who  sang  it  ante  Culices  Maronis.     It  is  coming  fast  to  that 

'  Parliamentary  History  (i8i8),  pp.  608  sqq. 
'  Lucan,  11.  286. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 79 

point  which  you  and  I  have  long  foreseen.  As  we  have  foreseen  it, 
it  would  be  a  shame  indeed  if  we  were  not  prepared  for  it,  both  in 
the  collectedness  of  our  own  minds,  and  in  every  precaution,  which 
in  our  situation  belongs  to  us.  After  what  has  happen'd  in  France, 
it  would  be  a  shame  indeed  if  M""  Foxes  Guillotin  (I  mean  the 
travelling  Guillotin  for  me,  the  permanent  for  you),  should  come  to 
our  Doors,  without  our  having  a  previous  struggle  for  our  Necks, 
and  for  what  ought  to  be  far  more  precious  to  us.  I  have  this 
morning  paid  M'"  Dallimore  six  pound,  eighteen  and  tenpence,  for 
bringing  me  from  Herefordshire  a  fine  pair  of  oxen,  and  training  and 
disciplining  six  of  my  own.  I  have  now  eight,  with  which  all  my 
Tillage  for  the  next  year  may  go  on  sufficiently  well  :  and  I  have 
eight  fine  young  Horses,  fit  for  mounting  heavy  Cavalry,  on  which 
I  think  I  can  put  eight  very  handsome  young  men,  whenever  you 
make  your  first  requisition.  Our  parish  is  not  quite  five  and  twenty 
hundred  acres,  as  I  imagine  ;  yet  out  of  this  little  place,  I  have  no 
sort  of  doubt  that  with  much  good  will,  and  a  very  little  force,  you 
may  have  thirty  heavy  Horse  and  about  twenty  light.  By  this 
scantling  judge  of  England  ;  wherever  you  choose  to  pour  the 
English  youth  and  the  English  steeds,  upon  the  plains  of  Picardy 
or  of  Britanny.  For  there  and  there  alone,  in  my  opinion,  this  civil 
War,  not  of  England  but  of  Europe,  may  or  can  be  fought  with 
advantage.  However,  I  am  willing  to  take  my  part  of  it  wherever 
you  please.  Tell  this  to  M""  Pitt,  and  assure  him  that  he  has  not 
betray'd  his  Master  by  recommending  his  Bounty  to  me.  It  is  true 
that  I  labour  under  an  infirmity  that  may  possibly  prevent  me  from 
serving  on  Horseback  :  I  have  not  mounted  an  Horse  for  several 
years.  But  one  can  find  his  way  to  heaven  on  foot.  However,  I 
am  not  sure,  that  in  such  a  cause,  I  could  not  ride.  If  that  should 
prove  so,  I  beg  you  to  contrive  matters  so,  that  I  may  act  under 
young  Elliot.  I  have  nothing  more  to  say  on  that  head.  When  the 
question  is  of  War,  I  have  only  to  obey  orders.  My  knowledge 
does  not  qualifye  me  for  any  thing  more. 

I  turn  to  other  matters  in  which,  without  being  more  skilfull,  I 
am  more  conversant.  A  great  deal  depends  on  your  support  of 
Reeves.     I   have  written  you  a  long  letter  to  which  I  sat  down  in 

23—2 


l8o  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

about  a  couple  of  Hours  after  I  received  Woodford's.  I  ought  to 
have  been  up  earHer,  and  then  I  should  have  answered  it  sooner. 
I  had  but  just  time  to  run  over  his  piece.  My  Letter  was  written  in 
great  haste.  It  is  in  three  Sheets,  and  I  fear  it  is  hardly  Legible. 
I  sent  it  by  Josiah  Wade,  a  fine  lad,  and  one  that  I  think  I  can  give 
you,  bred  up  by  myself.  He  left  this  at  four.  As  I  wrote  in  haste, 
there  may  be  some  marks  of  what  the  French  call  Humeur  in  my 
Letter,  but  let  that  pass.  I  adhere  to  the  substance  of  it.  I  am  ready 
to  live  and  die  for  the  Creed  that  you  and  M""  Pitt  have  subscrib'd. 
I  have  never  heard,  during  my  service  in  Parliament,  and  it  has  been 
an  hot  and  tempestuous  time,  any  thing  like  the  Debate  that  I  read 
in  this  Sun  that  came  to  me  this  morning.  The  desperateness,  the 
Fury,  the  insolence  of  the  Revolutionists  has  no  example.  When 
they  charged,  some  time  ago,  the  King's  Ministers  with  a  plot 
against  his  person'  for  the  purpose  of  laying  it  on  their  Clubs, 
which  was  done  in  both  Houses,  if  you  had  refused  to  go  on  till 
that  matter  of  charge  was  clear'd  up,  either  for  your  Punishment  for 
a  double  Treason  of  such  atrocity,  or  for  the  just  animadversion  on 
those  who  made  so  foul  and  scandalous  a  charge,  you  would  not  have 
had  yesterday's  work,  or  rather  the  work  of  the  day  before,  as  I  think 
it  was.      I  ran  over  the  Newspaper  very  hastily  this  morning. 

The  author  who  was  the  subject  of  their  attack  was  well  chosen. 
When  they  get  rid  of  him,  no  Magistrate  will  act  for  you.  No  Man 
of  parts  will  write  for  you.  He  has  considerable  abilities.  If  indeed 
he  had  left  out  all  his  dissertation  on  Dead  men,  and  dead  parties, 
his  Book  would  not  have  been  the  worse  for  it. 

As  to  the  Doctrine  in  the  part  complained  of — it  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  the  Law  of  the  Land.  If  the  Crown  Lawyers  abandon 
it  (I  think  too  well  of  them  to  imagine  they  will),  they  betray  the 
Law,  they  betray  their  Trust,  they  betray  their  Master,  they  betray 
their  friends  in  Ministry,  and  (if  it  were  worth  mentioning  after  all 
these)  they  betray  themselves.  The  discreet  M*"  Adair-,  and  the 
flourishing  M*"  Harding'  come  forth.    The  latter  is  the  D.  of  Pordand's 

'  29  Oct.  1795,  when  the  king's  carriage  was  shot  at  as  he  went  to  open  parliament. 
-  Serjeant  James  Adair,  M.P.  for  Higham  Ferrers. 
^  George  Hardinge,  M.P.  for  Old  Sarum. 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  l8l 

creature,  the  last  (sic)  is  M''  Pitt's — or  the  late  Lord  Camden's.  Fine 
work  indeed.  How  they  are  alarmed  about  M""  Reeves'  Heraldry 
of  the  Constitution  !  Whether  the  Lords  and  Commons  or  the  King 
should  walk  first  in  the  procession !  Which  is  the  Root,  which 
the  Branches?  In  good  faith  they  cut  up  the  Root  and  the 
Branches !  A  fine  Business  of  Law  Grammar,  which  is  the  Sub- 
stantive, which  the  Adjective  ?  When  an  Author  lays  down  the 
whole  as  to  be  revered  and  adhered  to — at  any  former  time  would 
any  one  have  made  a  cause  of  quarrel,  that  he  had  given  the  Priority 
to  diny  pari  ?  especially  to  that  part  which  was  attacked  and  exposed  .'' 
My  opinion  is,  that  if  you  do  not  kick  this  business  out  with  scorn, 
Reeves  ought  to  petition  and  to  desire  to  be  heard  by  himself  and 
his  Counsel.     Shew  this  to  M''  Pitt,  if  you  think  it  right. 

Adieu  !     Adieu  !     Ever  y'"'* 

E.   Burke,  or  what  remains  of  him  and  his. 


Burke   to   Woodford. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  9°-) 

[29  Nov.  1795.] 
I  began  my  letter  to  M""  Windham  with  a  Motto  from  Lucan 
to  entertain  him,  for  I  can  do  nothing  more.     I  begin  this  with  a 
Motto  from  VirgiP. 

cur,  in  Limine  prinio 

deficimus  ?   cur  ante  tubam  tremor  occupat  artus  .'* 

The  disposition  you  mention  in  your  Letter,  which  I  have  just  got 
by  Josiah  Wade,  seems  to  me  a  sad  prelude  to  the  Civil  War  with 
which  we  are  so  boldly  and  declaredly  threat'ned.  You  are  a  soldier, 
and  you  know  how  much  it  is  to  shew  a  good  Countenance  in  the 
presence  of  an  Enemy.  Well  then,  we  are  to  have  no  Civil  War  ? 
but  we  are  to  have  something  worse — to  go  to  the  Guillotine  of  our 
worthy  sovereign  Citizens  without  a  struggle.     God's  will  be  done ! 

'  Aen.  XI.  423. 


I 82  BURKE    TO    WOODFORD 

I  have  long  thought  that,  though  we  have  many  persons  of  parts  and 
of  Eloquence  and  of  first  rate  Capacities  for  Business  of  all  sorts,  that 
the  animal  called  a  Statesman  was  (against  the  Rule  of  the  Schools), 
— "  a  lost  kind."  I  now  find,  what  is  worse  than  a  want  of  Statesmen, 
that  there  is  a  want  of  men.  To  be  beat  is  not  pleasant ;  but  to  be 
bullied  is  sad  and  ridiculous  at  once. 

The  thing  is  decided,  and  at  the  moment  I  write  they  are  not  in 
the  middle  of  a  fight,  but  of  a  flight,  and  the  Enemy  has  done  some 
good  Execution  on  us  for  four  or  five  hours.  So  that  what  I  write 
is  only  to  amuse  Windham  whilst  his  Wounds  are  dressing.  I  have 
only  to  say,  that  this  same  fear  which  some  dignifye  with  the  name 
of  Prudence  is  the  worst  of  all  providers  for  safety.  I  am  a  very 
great  admirer  of  Fear, — when  it  is  in  its  proper  place,  that  is  long 
before  the  danger ;  but  by  no  means  when  you  are  in  the  midst  of  it. 
Why  should  not  M""  Reeves  petition  ?  Let  them  name  a  day  for 
them  to  hear  him — and  whilst  that  is  pending  let  them  go  on  with 
their  Bill.  Instead  of  being  frighten'd  and  confused  with  this  Event, 
if  they  had  bespoken  it,  begged  it,  fasted  and  prayed  for  it,  nothing 
better,  by  any  possibility,  could  have  happen'd  to  them.  It  would 
rouse  the  Nation.  It  would  animate  its  languid  attention.  It  would 
call  forth,  what  at  present  they  hardly  have,  a  party  in  their  favour. 
I  hope  they  are  cured  of  the  delusive  hope  of  national  unanimity. 
If  they  have  not  a  party,  they  have  not/mtg,  and  they  have  that 
option  and  that  only  to  make.     Are  they  always  to  run  away  ? 

An  Exordium  for  M""  Reeves. 
Sir, 

It  is  a  source  of  real  consolation  to  me,  in  the  midst  of 
great  afflictions  for  the  present  and  under  some  melancholy  prognos- 
tications for  the  future,  that  I  appear  before  his  Majesties  most 
dutiful  and  Loyal  Subjects,  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain  in 
Parliament  assembled — that  I  appear  before  the  representative 
body  of  my  fellow  Subjects,  all  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain  ; 
and  not  before  the  representatives  of  the  Sovereign  People,  real  or 
pretended,  of  this  or  any  other  Country,  in  National  Convention 
assembled. 


BURKE    TO    WOODFORD  1 83 

This,  Sir,  is  the  Style  of  this  Hon'''®  House,  renewed  solemnly 
every  year  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  ;  and  this,  which  is  your  glory, 
is  my  safety.  Whilst  we  are  all  fellow-subjects,  we  are  entitled  to  an 
equal  Law,  and  we  derive  from  that  equal  Law  an  equal  security  ; 
a  security  which  is  common  to  us  all  ;  from  the  greatest  Duke  who 
can  appear  in  the  Area  before  Westminster  Hall,  to  me  an  humble 
Magistrate  of  the  City  of  Westminster,  now  at  your  Bar  in  defence 
of  myself  against  a  charge  of  violating  the  Privileges  of  your  House. 

It  is,  Sir,  an  heavy  charge — and  just  the  last  in  the  world  that 
I  ever  dreamed  would  have  been  made  against  me.  I  hope,  instead 
of  violating,  I  would  die  to  preserve  your  Privileges.  They  are 
a  sacred  part  of  the  Law  of  the  Land,  which  at  your  humble  prayer 
his  Majesty  recognized  at  your  Election,  and  at  the  Election  and 
his  Royal  approbation  of  every  Speaker  does  continually  grant  and 
recognize.  I  am  a  Magistrate,  and  I  think  I  should  fly  in  the  Face 
not  only  of  this  House,  before  which  I  prostrate  myself  with  an 
humble,  and  sincere,  and  truly  filial  reverence,  but  of  his  Majesty, 
to  whom,  and  to  whom  alone,  I  have  sworn  Allegiance,  if  I  were 
capable  of  infringing  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  Laws,  which, 
as  a  Magistrate,  the  King  has  appointed  [me]  to  observe,  and  to 
cause  others  to  observe,  and  of  which  Laws,  and  above  all,  of  this 
High  Law,  the  Privilege,  Laws,  Custom  and  Usage  of  Parliament, 
his  Majesty  is  a  most  vigilant  Guardian  and  a  most  strenuous 
asserter.  I  should  be  a  Rebel  to  my  King — if  I  intentionally  failed 
in  fidelity  and  Duty  to  his  faithful  Commons.  Permit  me.  Sir,  to  say 
that  we  are  all.  King,  Lords,  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled,  and 
Commons  at  large,  embarked  on  one  Common  Bottom,  and  have  one 
Common  Enemy.  I  have  never  known  any  Persons  concern'd  in 
sinister  Machinations  against  the  King  (for  such  there  are,  as  you 
well  know  and  have  publish'd  to  the  world)  that  do  not  shew  the 
worst  possible  dispositions  to  this  honourable  House.  Nor  any  of 
these  seditious  persons  (for  I  speak  not  of  others,  God  forbid),  who 
under  pretext  of  reforming  you,  but  in  reality  to  produce  universal 
confusion,  do  not  shew  a  very  dangerous  ill-disposition  towards  the 
Crown.  lam  not  in  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of  these  descriptions. 
The  Book  I  wrote  and  freely  acknowledge  was  with  an  Intent  to 


184  BURKE    TO    WOODFORD 

serve  both  ;  and  all  the  Doctrine  it  contains,  with  great  submission 
to  the  better  Judgment  of  this  House,  is,  I  maintain  it,  agreeable 
to  the  Laws  and  Constitution  of  my  Country. 

As  to  my  expressions — I  most  humbly  supplicate  that  this  House 
will  demean  itself  towards  me  with  that  Magnanimity  with  w*^^  it 
has  passed  over  both  matters  and  expressions  of  a  far  more  doubtful 
Nature.  My  Petition  to  this  House,  and  my  Language  at  the  Bar 
are,  and  ever  shall  be,  very  different  from  that  of  several  Petitions 
that  lie  quietly  on  your  Table,  and  from  that  of  several  discussions 
that  are  quietly  vended  throughout  the  Kingdom. 

I  understand,  that  some  Metaphors  in  a  general  and  merely 
theoretical  part  of  my  printed  Letter,  are  consider'd  as  Crimes. 
I  should  have  hoped  that  for  Metaphors  I  should  have  been 
called  to  answer  before  some  Literary  Academy  (not  the  Academy 
of  France,  which  I  utterly  disclaim),  and  that  I  should  have  answer'd 
to  Criticks  before  the  Tribunal  of  Criticism.  For  any  wrong  opinions 
concerning  the  Antiquities  of  our  Laws,  I  fancied  I  should  only  answer 
before  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  ;  but  finding  my  Mistake,  but  still 
adhering  to  my  principles,  I  renounce,  abjure  and  detest  all  the 
heretical  pravity  of  my  Metaphors.  If  they  are  not',  as,  I  fear, 
from  mere  carelessness  some  of  them  are,  of  less  studied  respect 
than  they  ought  to  be  towards  this  House  [in  regard]  of  antient 
times  and  in  theoretical  abstraction,  I  renounce  the  abstractions, 
the  Theories,  the  Antiquities,  and  above  all  the  wicked  and  depraved 
Metaphors.  I  have  heard  of  an  Archbishop  who  would  not  promote 
a  very  worthy  Clergyman  because,  as  he  heard,  he  played  at  Whist 
and  Swabbers'- .  That  for  an  innocent  game  of  Whist,  it  was  very 
tolerable.  He  plaid  at  it  now  and  then  himself;  but  as  to  those 
wicked  sivabbers,  they  were  not  to  be  endured.  Now  I  renounce 
the  swabbers  and  the  Metaphors.     I  most  solemnly  declare  disrespect 


'  The  story  is  taken  from  Sm{t's/nfe//igencer{i-j28)  and  the  Archbishop  was  Tenison. 
The  exact  method  of  reckoning  swabbers  is  not  absolutely  certain,  but  according  to 
"  Cavendish  "  they  appear  to  have  been  four  cards  (ace  and  deuce  of  trumps,  ace  of 
hearts,  knave  of  clubs)  which,  Hke  honours,  gave  their  possessors  a  right  to  a  score,  or 
share  of  the  stake,  apart  from  the  play  of  the  hand,  and  they  are  supposed  to  have 
survived  in  rural  circles  as  late  as   1873. 


BURKE    TO    WOODFORD  I 85 

was  far  from  my  heart.  I  give  up  my  foolish  Roots,  and  Trunks  and 
branches  and  all  their  vain  foliage.  I  give  them  cheerfully  to  warm 
your  stoves. 

Has,  Vulcane,  dicat  Sylvas  tibi  Villicus  Aemon ! 

For  the  future  I  shall  stick  to  my  profession.  We  Lawyers  do 
not  always  make  the  best  hand  of  a  Metaphor.  I  have  burned 
my  fingers  with  them.  In  future  I  shall  avoid  all  Metaphors. 
I  shall  stick  to  my  precedent  Book,  my  Entries  and  to  my  special 
pleading,  and  shall  never  get  beyond  the  safe  style,  of  "  absque  Hoc, 
quod,  quod  etc."     Omnia  si  sic ! 

This  I  think  would  put  the  House  into  good  humour  and  make 
them  listen  to  the  wholesome  doctrine  he  would  afterwards  stand  to. 
But  why  do  I  trouble  myself  and  you  ?  It  is  all  over  with  us.  The 
Cape  is  a  good  acquisition — but  for  us  there  is  no  Cape  of  good 
hope. 


Windham   to   Burke. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  94-) 

JarfJ  17,   1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  send  you  another  Pamphlet,  which  I  took  at  first  to  be 
a  Twin-Brother  of  the  one  that  you  have  lately  been  considering, 
but  which  I  find  has  no  relation  to  it  in  the  line  of  its  descent  ; 
though  it  has  a  complete  one  in  its  character  and  lineaments,  as  well 
as  in  the  favour  of  those  who  become  its  Parents  by  adopting  it. 
I  thought  at  first  it  had  been  Lord  Auckland's,  but  I  have  under- 
stood since  that  it  is  the  work  of  another  hand.  They  both  work 
however  to  the  same  end  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  their  work  is 
approved  and  sanctioned  by  the  same  authorities.  When  you  have 
read  to  about  the  middle,  you  will  see  of  what  kidney  the  writer  is, 
and  you  will  judge  before  that,  that  if  the  work  is  spoken  of  as  a 
production  of  considerable  ability  by  the  persons  I  have  alluded  to, 
it  must  be  from  approbation  of  the  sentiments,  and  not  from  their 

B.-w.  c.  24 


1 86  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

being  led  away  by  any  unusual  merit  in  the  composition.  In  that 
respect  its  character  might  be  contented  to  stand  at  Par  between 
praise  and  blame.  Its  general  tendency  is  that  which  is  the  most 
material  ;  which  becomes  more  so  from  the  approbation  it  seems 
to  meet  with  ;  and  which  makes  me  desirous  that  you  should  have 
it  at  this  time  under  your  consideration  ;  though  I  don't  know  that 
it  can  add  to,  or  alter  anything  in,  what  you  are  at  present  about. 

The  Moment  of  Peace  is  yet,  I  hope,  so  far  distant,  that  chance 
may  still  do  much  to  save  us  from  so  dreadful  a  Catastrophe  :  I  mean 
of  course  Peace  with  a  Jacobin  Republick  ;  yet  every  thing  has  a 
dreadful  tendency  that  way  :  and  the  great  impediment  is  wanting ; 
a  conviction  of  the  extent  of  the  danger  which  from  that  moment 
will  begin  to  operate  against  the  Country.  It  really  does  not  appear 
to  me,  that  from  the  moment  that  such  a  Peace  is  made  the  shame 
and  degradation  of  this  Country  will  be  any  longer  supportable. 
I  cannot  but  image  to  myself  the  circumstances  of  one  of  the 
Regicides  and  Septembrizers  opening  his  house  in  London  as 
Ambassador  of  the  Republick,  and  finding  it  crowded  (as  he  cer- 
tainly will)  by  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  first  Nobility  and 
Gentry  of  the  Country ;  who  will  be  initiated  there  in  the  doctrines 
of  Revolutionary  Morality,  and  be  ready  to  take  Lessons  in  the 
practice  from  the  numberless  able  and  agreable  professors,  who 
will  attend  there  for  that  purpose.  It  might  be  a  curious  question 
of  propriety,  if  any  such  were  worth  attending  to,  on  what  footing 
the  Ambassadress  was  to  be  ;  and  how  the  case  of  a  Wife,  remove- 
able  upon  four  days  notice,  should  be  distinguished  from  that  of 
a  Mistress  ?  But  it  would  be  in  vain  to  make  any  bones  of  such 
distinctions  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Mad®  de  Fontenaye',  should 
Tallien  be  our  Ambassador,  will  be  as  well  received,  and  as  much  in 
fashion  as  M®  de  Polignac,  or  the  Princesse  de  Lamballe,  or  any 
foreign  woman  of  distinction  that  we  have  known  in  our  time. 
I  daresay  there  will  [be]  a  Fontenaye  Cap  that  will  prevail  amongst 
the  women,  as  we  remember  the  Nivernois  hat  to  have  done  among 

'  Nee  Cabarus,  of  Bordeaux ;  by  sparing  her  Tallien  became  suspect,  and  in  self- 
defence  accused  Robespierre,  whereby  she  was  in  some  sense  the  first  cause  of  the 
chain  of  events  which  resulted  in  bringing  the  Terror  to  an  end. 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  I 87 

the  men.  You  know  probably  from  Woodford  in  what  manner  a 
IVf  Bird  who  was  sent  over  to  endeavour  to  save  the  Due  de  Choiseul' 
was  received  by  La  Croix^  the  Minister  for  foreign  Affairs;  I  mean 
in  what  dress  he  found  him  ;  and  how  lodged.  He  was  in  a  mag- 
nificent Hotel,  approaching  to  the  Character  of  a  Palace  ;  and  was 
dressed  in  a  black  velvet  Cloak  lined  with  scarlet,  a  scarlet  Vest, 
scarlet  Pantaloons  ;  wore  a  gold-hilted  sword  and  a  Hat  a  la  Henri  IV, 
with  a  Panache  of  Tricolor  feathers.  I  have  not  heard  that  they 
dress  their  Ambassadors  in  any  particular  manner ;  but  I  daresay 
that  it  will  happen  so  before  long  ;  and  that  when  the  party  shall  be 
a  little  more  established  in  this  Country  we  shall  find  that  dress, 
whatever  it  shall  be,  beginning  to  make  its  appearance  here  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  cropped  heads. 

Those  who  are  desirous  of  Peace,  and  yet  are  not  friends  to  the 
French  System,  ground  their  hopes  on  the  misery  and  dissention 
likely  to  continue  in  that  Country,  and  the  effect  which  that  will 
have,  both  in  disabling  them  from  any  attacks  against  us  by  open 
Force  ;  and  by  furnishing  an  Antidote  against  the  progress  of  their 
Principles.  This  is  the  point  which  it  will  be  necessary  most  to 
labour.  I  fear  that  that  security  will  not  turn  out  to  be  what  it  is 
expected  ;  though  it  will  be  very  likely  to  secure  this  Country  against 
any  immediate  shock  ;  and  to  enable  it  to  hold  out  during  the  lives 
of  the  present  possessors  of  power,  whether  King  or  Ministers  :  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  Country  will  then  have  contracted  its  death's 
disease,  and  have  imbibed  a  Jacobin-taint  which  will  never  leave  it 
till  it  has  effected  its  destruction  :  it  is  very  probable  that  the  disorder 
may  not  shew  itself  in  any  alarming  way  for  a  considerable  time  ;  and 
that  during  the  interval  the  Country  may  seem  to  enjoy  an  unusual 
degree  of  health  and  prosperity  ;  but  the  Complaint  will,  I  apprehend, 
be  in  the  blood,  not  to  be  expelled  but  by  some  such  violent  courses 

'  Claude  Antoine  Gabriel,  Due  de  Choiseul.  He  was  first  imprisoned  for  aiding 
in  the  flight  to  Varennes,  then  released  in  the  amnesty,  remained  with  the  Queen  till 
her  transference  to  the  Temple,  was  proscribed  and  went  into  exile,  was  captured  in 
the  Netherlands,  escaped  from  Dunkirk  prison,  took  service  in  an  English  expedition 
to  the  Indies,  was  wrecked  on  the  French  coast  near  Calais  and  remained  in  prison 
till  1800. 

''  Charles  La  Croix,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  under  the  Directory. 

24 — 2 


1 88  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

as  will  endanger  the  existence  of  the  whole  frame  ;  and  as,  after  all, 
will  never  suffer  us  to  recover  that  state  of  strength  and  vigour  which 
we  once  enjoyed. 

I  had  intended,  instead  of  sending  you  the  Pamphlet,  to  have  been 
the  bearer  of  it  myself;  but  the  necessity  of  returning  on  Monday  to 
the  Birthday,  and  some  engagements  that  detained  me  late  Yesterday, 
have  made  me  defer  my  hopes  till  another  opportunity,  which  I  hope 
however  to  be  able  to  meet  with  before  long. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  most  truly  and  faithfully 

Yours 

[W.   Windham]. 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.   37843-  f-  97-) 

Jan.   19,    1796. 

My  d''  Sir, 

I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  Letter,  tho'  I  had 
rather  have  heard  the  same  things  from  yourself  It  is  exactly  as 
you  say.  Our  moral  world  will  be  wasted  by  this  Peace.  The 
Pamphlet  you  sent  me  I  had  seen  before.  I  thought  it  Lord 
Auckland's.  It  is  a  natural  sequel  of  the  October  piece.  In  fact 
it  is  pretty  nearly  the  same — not  quite  I  think  so  full  of  gross  and 
glaring  contradictions — tho'  at  the  bottom  equally  flimsy  in  the 
arguments  and  profligate  in  the  Sentiments.  I  send  you  some 
of  the  sheets  for  Woodtbrd.  I  find  they  lay  great  weight  on  the 
dresses,  and  they  shall  have  a  good  dressing.  Good  God,  what 
a  Hornet's  nest  of  Enemies  am  I  making  to  destroy  my  miserable 
repose.  But  if  this  Fraternity  is  made,  nothing  is  worth  caring  for. 
Adieu  and  believe  me  ever, 

My  d''  Sir,  most  truly  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


burke  to  windham  1 89 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  99) 

Beconsfield,  March  6,  1796. 
My  dear  Sir, 

What  I  was  given  to  understand,  but  what  I  could  not 

beHeve,  nor  could  you,  has  happen'd' — the  House  of  Commons  is 

condemned  in   Costs  and    Damages   by  the    East   India  Company. 

We  have  charged  Hastings  with  Robbery  of  the   People  of  India. 

Instead  of  punishing  him  we  reward  him  with  a  second  Robbery. 

No  account    demanded   of  him.      No   reason   asked   why,    with   an 

immense  salary,  when  he  might  have  been  honestly  rich,  he  is  as 

he  says  miserably  poor  ?      Why  no  account  of  the  Bribes  .'*      The 

Lords  may  say,  they  will  not  convict  him  of  them  :    but  they  have 

not  said,  nor  can  they  say,  that  he  has  accounted  for  the  money, 

tho'  their  Judgment  has  the  infamy  to  say,  that  Bribery,  and  forgery 

of  Bonds  to  cover  it,  is  a  proper  way  of  getting  a  Revenue — but  no 

account !  no  account  of  any  kind !     My  dear  Sir,   I   must  not  have 

it  said  that  we  have  compromised  the  matter  by  a  Pension  to  the 

accuser  and  another  to  the  Accused.     The  house  of  Lords  may  say 

we  have  made  a  false  charge— so  may  the  Bystanders — are  we  to 

say  it  ourselves  ? 

I    hope   to  have   my   Petition    ready  by   the    end    of   the  week. 

Your  poor  friend   M''^   Burke   is  still  very  ill   and  cannot  quit  her 

Room  or  her  Couch.      I    have  suspended   the  work  on  the  peace. 

It  is  not  fit  that  any  good  should  happen  to  this  enormous  Mass 

of    corruption,    peculation,    oppression.     Robbery,    prevarication    in 

Judgment,   and  direct  perversion    of   Judgment.      God's   ways  are 

unsearchable.      But   I    think  the   bolt  will   fall,  and   it  is  fit  that   it 

should  fall  on  me  amongst  the  rest.     Adieu,  Adieu. 

Ever  y""^ 

Edm.  Burke. 


'  At  a  General  Court  of  the  East  India  Company,  2  March  1796,  the  chairman 
announced  that  a  resolution  of  the  Court  of  Directors  granting  to  Hastings  an  annuity 
of  £,^,000  for  28^  years  had  been  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Control. 


iqo  burke  to  windham 

Burke  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   loi.) 

Beconsfield,  March  7,   1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

In  the  multiplicity  of  your  affairs,  it  is  natural  you  should 
let  slip  from  your  Mind  a  thing  of  so  little  consequence  as  the  appli- 
cation I  made  you  in  favour  of  a  man  who  has  the  misfortune  of 
being  a  relation  of  mine,  and  is  therefore,  with  the  very  best  possible 
Character  from  every  Officer  he  served  under,  seventeen  years  a 
subaltern  in  the  Militia.  You  will  recollect  that  I  wished  you  to 
state  this  Case  to  His  R'  Highness  the  Duke  of  York,  for  a 
Lieutenancy  for  him  in  an  old  Regiment — always  on  a  Condition 
that  you  are  perfectly  satisfied  about  his  Character  from  his  Officers. 
Will  a  Memorial  for  him  be  necessary  ?  and  you  will  be  so  good  to 
take  such  measures  as  you  please  about  it.  You  will  much  oblige 
me,  and  you  will  thereby  pour,  as  on  other  occasions  you  have  done, 
some  balm  into  a  wounded  Spirit  and  that  is  sick  of  many  Griefs. 
Adieu  and  believe  me  with  most  real  respect  and  affection. 

My  d^  Sir,  Your  most  faithful  and  obed*^  humble  ser*- 

Edm.  Burke. 


Burke  to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   103.) 

Beconsfield,  Easter  Monday  [28  Mar.  1796]. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  shall  say  but  a  few  words.  Pray  lose  no  time  in  sending 
me  an  order  for  the  House  at  Penn.  I  shall  be  your  Deputy  Barrack- 
Master.      Francis  open'd  his  plan'  to  me  ;  which  necessarily  led  me, 

'  For  the  better  regulation  of  slaves  in^the  West  Indies.  On  1 1  April,  in  moving 
for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill,  Francis  referred  to  Burke's  plan  as  having  been  communi- 
cated to  Pelham  and  Windham,  but  added  that  as  it  was  more  comprehensive  than  his 
own  he  had  not  availed  himself  of  Windham's  invitation  to  see  it.  Burke's  plan  is 
presumably  in  substance  the  "  Sketch  of  the  Negro  Code"  printed  in  his  Works  (1852), 
V.  p.  591,  but  a  MS.  copy  in  the  Windham  Papers,  Add.  MS.  37890,  f.  3,  contains  a 
few  additions  in  Burke's  own  hand. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 91 

if  I  were  not  to  appear  dry  and  discouraging  to  him,  to  give  him 
some  Lines  of  my  Ideas.  He  had  but  one  Notion  ;  that  indeed 
perfectly  agreed  with  mine — which  was  to  giv^e  property  to  the 
Negroes,  but  as  this  was  without  any  scheme  whatsoever  to 
effectuate  and  support  it,  I  referred  him  to  the  plan  in  your  hands, 
and  I  believe  he  will  talk  to  you.  I  wish  you  to  put  yourself  in 
possession  of  your  Ground — otherwise  the  whole  will  be  blown  up 
by  everyone  running  and  snatching  a  piece  here  and  there.  God 
bless  you.  I  forgot  to  say  that  it  would  be  but  a  proper  Compliment 
to  Woodford  for  his  Zeal  in  this  Cause,  that  the  money  for  the 
School,  if  given  on  the  military  fund,  should  pass  to  me  through 
him.  Ever  most  truly  y^^ 

Edm.  Burke. 


Windham   to   Pitt. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  122.) 

T.;r  „  ^^'■'''  ^7.   1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

What  was  mentioned  cursorily  the  other  day,  when  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  Downing  Street,  has  certainly  a 
great  deal  that  is  deserving  of  consideration,  and  contributes  to  fix 
me  in  the  opinion  that  the  Business  respecting  the  Royalists,  though 
in  some  Respects  usefully  placed  in  my  Hands,  may  upon  the  whole 
be  better  conducted  if  left  to  follow  the  course  of  the  other  military 
service,  and  confined  to  those  Departments  to  which  alone  it  can 
officially  belong. 

Two  causes  obstruct  the  success  of  these  Measures  in  my  hands  : 
— the  necessity,  which  is  unavoidable,  of  recurring  in  every  Instance 
to  other  Departments,  even  for  the  very  Power  by  which  any  Measure 
is  originally  to  be  put  in  motion  ;  and  secondly  the  jealousy  enter- 
tained, that  I  am  at  times  acting  rather  according  to  my  own  Ideas 
than  in  Conformity  to  those  which  the  Cabinet  have  finally  adopted. 
The  Fact  is  really  not  so.     Whatever  my  own  ideas  may  be,  I  have 


192  WINDHAM    TO    PITT 

never  allowed  myself  to  transgress  that  Line  which  the  Cabinet  have 
thought  it  right  to  prescribe.  But  as  long  as  the  ground  of  suspicion 
remains,  the  Apprehension  may  from  time  to  time  operate,  and  is 
therefore  among  the  Reasons  which  may  induce  the  Opinion  above 
mentioned,  namely  that  the  Business  respecting  the  Royalists  may 
go  on  better  if  left  exclusively  to  the  regular  official  Channels.  I  for 
one  shall  be  perfectly  willing  to  place  it  there,  having  originally  only 
accepted  this  office  as  a  sort  of  Chapel  of  Ease  to  M"^  Dundas,  and 
because  it  seemed  to  me  that  no  one  else  was  so  likely  to  attend  to 
the  Duties  of  it. 

One  Consideration  only  I  wish  to  be  strongly  impressed — that 
the  Business  in  Question,  by  whomever  conducted,  must  be  altogether 
a  work  of  detail,  requiring  constant  and  minute  attention,  and 
incapable  of  being  carried  on  to  any  useful  Purpose  under  the  mere 
effect  of  general  Orders,  however  large  and  liberal  those  Orders  may 
be.  Great  Expeditions  must  in  general  owe  their  Success  to  their 
force ;  and  may  dispense  therefore  with  any  attention  to  detail, 
except  in  those  who  are  to  follow  up  the  execution  of  them  in 
their  last  and  lowest  stages. 

But  all  the  Assistance  that  we  can  at  present  give  to  the 
Royalists,  or  have  the  immediate  prospect  of  giving,  must  be  the 
Effect  of  Contrivance  and  Combination,  and  can  be  prepared  in 
the  first  instance  by  those  only,  who  will  submit  to  the  pains  of 
conversing  with  the  Persons  who  come  from  the  Country ;  of  com- 
municating by  every  opportunity  with  those  who  remain  there  ;  of 
examining  their  Plans  ;  of  comparing  their  accounts ;  of  informing 
himself  minutely  of  the  State  of  their  Affairs  ;  of  concerting  with 
them  the  Means  of  adapting  the  Measures  to  be  taken  here  to  the 
corresponding  Movements  to  be  made  in  the  Interiour. 

All  this  neither  M""  Dundas  nor  Huskisson  can  have  time  to 
go  through.  I  should  recommend  therefore  earnestly  to  him  to 
appoint  some  one  or  two  Persons — if  Military  Men,  the  better — who 
may  be  entrusted  with  the  Care  of  this  Department  and  report  the 
results  of  their  communications,  and  opinions,  upon  which  He  and 
the  Cabinet  may  afterwards  decide. 

In  this  way  things  will  go  on  more  regularly  and  possibly  more 


WINDHAM    TO    PITT  I93 

advantageously,  I  am  afraid,  I  must  say,  that  they  are  not  likely 
to  go  on  less  so. — I  much  question  indeed  whether  we  are  not  now 
too  late,  and  whether  the  next  News  will  not  be  that  the  army  of 
Scepeaux  is  gone  the  same  way  as  those  of  Stofflet,  Sapinaud  and 
Charette.  We  must  determine  however  on  the  State  of  things  such 
as  it  now  remains. 

I  have  no  wish  but  that  the  Cause  may  prosper,  by  whatever 
means  that  end  may  be  brought  about,  and  if  more  is  likely  to  be 
done  in  the  way  that  I  have  now  proposed,  I  shall  have  an  additional 
Reason  for  regretting  that  I  did  not  sooner  free  myself  from  a  charge 
of  infinite  Trouble,  Anxiety  and  Vexation,  in  which  I  fear  I  have 
done  but  little  good,  and  in  which  I  have  for  ever  felt  myself  in  the 
painful  situation  of  pressing  importunately  upon  others'  attention, 
what  they  did  not  at  least  feel  to  be  of  the  same  importance  that 
I   did. 

The  Enjoyment  that  I  have  been  feeling  since  yesterday  in  the 
Country  does  not  dispose  one  less  to  the  divesting  oneself  of  any 
Employment  which  makes  the  Necessity  of  closer  Residence  in 
London.  I  should  not  however  be  influenced  by  this  Consideration, 
if  I  saw  the  possibility  of  being  in  any  Degree  useful  to  my  Friends 
the  Chouans.  I  shall  take  care  to  return  in  time  for  the  Debate 
tomorrow,  and  am. 

My  dear  Sir,  yours  very  truly 

William  Windham. 


In  a  letter  to  the  same  effect  to  Dundas',  i  May  1796,  Windham 
remarks  "  My  ideas  with  respect  to  the  whole  of  this  subject  do  not 
differ  perhaps  so  much  from  yours  as  you  have  sometimes  supposed. 
I  differ  no  doubt  inasmuch  as  I  would  from  the  beginning  have 
made  this  the  principal  object  of  the  war  and  considered  all  others, 
unless  I  am  to  except  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  subordinate.... 
What  I  complain  of  is,  not  that  we  are  following  a  wrong  system, 
but  that  we  do  not  act  up  to  the  system  that  we  profess  :..., that 
nobody  shews  any  interest  in  the  success  of  the  Royalists  ;  nobody 

'  Add.  MS.  37876,  f.  89. 

B.-W.   C.  25 


194  WINDHAM    TO    DUNDAS 

will  take  the  trouble  to  understand  their  affairs ;  no  one  will  willingly 
hear  any  mention  of  them  ;  no  one,  except  by  compulsion,  will  take 
any  steps  in  their  behalf.  There  is  not  the  slightest  want  of  the 
most  subordinate  department  of  service  that  does  not  take  place  of 
their  most  pressing  demands. ...It  is  impossible,  I  know,  for  you  to 
follow  all  these  details  ;  nor  can  they  either  be  consistent  with  the 
innumerable  avocations  of  Huskisson  ;  it  was  for  that  reason  that  I 
was  willing,  as  you  know,  even  before  I  came  into  Office,  to  take 
upon  myself  a  part  of  that  business,  knowing  that  I  should  at  least 
not  be  wanting  in  that  species  of  Qualification  that  would  result 
from  goodwill.  The  business  however  has  not  prospered  in  my 
hands." 


Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   105.) 

Beconsfield,  June  2,  1796. 
My  dear  friend, 

Thanks  to  the  good  part  of  Norwich".  I  think  it  was 
the  only  Election  in  which  I  felt  a  real  Interest.  It  was  at  least  the 
first  and  deepest  Interest  I  felt.  I  have  now  only  to  tell  you  that 
the  D.  of  Bourbon  has  signified  his  pleasure,  that  he  will  come 
hither  to  see  our  School  on  Monday.  He  dines  here,  and  goes  away 
that  night  after  his  Jaunt  to  Penn — which  will  be  in  the  morning. 
If  you  could  come  hither  on  Sunday  night,  and  go  with  them  in  the 
morning  to  see  Penn,  it  would  be  best  of  all ;  I  do  not  insist  on  your 
returning  with  them.  M'''^  Crewe  is  here ;  and  tells  me  she  has 
engaged  you  for  Monday.  So  you  must  not  tell  her  of  this  sollicitation. 
They  were  to  have  been  here  tomorrow ;  but  they  have  put  it  off  till 
the  day  I  mention.  Perhaps  Woodford  may  come  with  you.  With 
my  best  congratulations  on  a  really  important  event ; 

Ever  most  truly  y™ 

Edm.  Burke. 

'  Norwich   returned   Windham    and   Sir   John    Hobart   to   the   new   Parliament, 
25  May  1796. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  195 

What  the  Devil?  Fox  and  Home  joinedM  and  Government 
with*  another  to  run  at  them !  I  should  not  wonder  if  they 
carried  it ! 


Burke  to  Windham, 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  107.) 

Tuesday  [7  June,  1796]. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  sollicitude  about  M''^  Burke. 
Except  in  the  power  of  much  motion  she  is  tolerably  well.  In  that 
disability  she  continues  much  as  she  was.  There  is  no  perceptible 
amendment.  For  myself  I  have  my  old  windy  complaints,  which 
are  rather  disagreeable  than  painful.  I  have  too  a  spasmodick 
affection  in  my  right  leg,  which  comes  and  goes  I  know  not  why  or 
how.  The  sore  for  which  there  is  no  salve  gives  me  only  a  bad 
quarter  of  an  hour  now  and  then.  As  to  the  publick,  like  our  great 
King  and  great  Armies  I  take  my  safety  in  Flight  and  ignorance. 
I  never  read  the  Newspaper  ;  and  only  hear  now  and  then  what 
I  cannot  well  prevent.  One  of  the  worst  things  I  hear  about  the 
future  is  the  present  Prince  of  Wales.  There  is  a  sort  of  rebellion 
by  anticipation.  The  Rehearsal  is  tolerably  perfect.  God's  will  be 
done.  Every  thing,  bating  the  loss  of  your  presence,  went  off  very 
well.  The  Scene  was  really  affecting.  I  like  the  Duke  of  Bourbon 
extremely — he  has  a  modest  dignity  and  perfect  good  behaviour — 
quales  esse  decet  quos  ardens  purpura  vestit".  But  his,  poor  man,  is 
stripped  off  M''^  Burke  is  very  happy  to  hear  of  your  intended 
visit ;  and  the  more  as  she  just  now  learnt  that  you  have  prevailed 
on  Miss  Lukin^  to  come  along  with  you.     Adieu. 

Believe  me  ever  sincerely  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


1  John  Home  Tooke  stood  for  Westminster.     Fox  and  the  government  candidate, 
Sir  Alan  Gardner,  were  successful. 
"  Juvenal  xi.   155. 
•  Windham's  half-sister,  or  his  niece. 

25—2 


196  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

Windham  visited  Burke  at  Beaconsfield  on  18  July  :  "  IVf**  Crewe 
and  Laurence  there... M""  B.  far  from  well." 

Burke  to  Windham, 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   109.) 

Bath,  Aug'  i,  1796. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  take  the  Pen  out  of  M''''  Burke's  hands  to  express  our 

common  and  very  warm  sense  of  the  Kindness  of  your  Sollicitude 

about  my  health.      It  is  of  some  value,  since  such  as  you  appear  to 

take  an  Interest  in  it.     The  value  in  other  respects  is  not  so  apparent. 

But  if  it  pleases  God  it  should  be  established  for  some  short  time, 

I    conclude    it    must    be    for   some   good   purposes,    great  or   small 

according  to  the  proportion  an   individual  bears  to  the    whole,    as 

a  link  in  a  chain  infinite  in  extent  and  in  duration.     Of  my  Death 

I   ought  to  conclude  the  same.      But    I    have  said  enough  on  this. 

Remaining  only  for  me  to  add,  that  though  all  the  symptoms  of  my 

complaint  went  on  with  an  accelerated  aggravation  for  the  first  days 

after  my  arrival  here,  for  these  last  four  the  progress  of  the   evil, 

I  may  say,  has  been  stopped,  and,  weakness  and  emaciation  excepted, 

I  am  not  at  all  worse  than  when  you  saw  me.     As  to  what  you  are 

so  good  to  expect  from  me,  I  can  do  nothing  at  present,  being  wholly 

incapable  of  all  application — and   for   what  ? — Non  si   mens   afforet 

Hector  !     If  even  you,  in  the  full  force  of  a  youthful  manhood,  in  an 

high  situation,  with  such  Virtues,  Talents,  and  Acquirements  as  God 

has  dispensed  to  very  few  living  (if  to  any),  can  do  nothing — if  from 

your  meridian  lustre  the  publick  can  reflect  no  light,  what  can  be 

done  by  the  expiring  snuff  of  my  farthing  Candle  ?     No,  there  is  no 

one  thing  which  we  can  propose,  that  to  those  who  shut  their  eyes  to 

the  evil  (and  therefore  cannot  conceive  what  remedies  are  proportion'd 

to  it),  that  would  not  be  thought  monstrous,  wild  and  extravagant. 

Are  we  of  the  stuff  of  those  who,  with   Hannibal  in  the  Bowels  of 

Italy,  would  think  of  transferring  the  gross  of  our  strength  to  Africk 

and  to  Spain  ?   I  go  no  further. — All  must  depend  on  individuals,  a  very 

few  individuals,  now,  as  always  it  has  done.     If  the  Duumvirate'  who 

'  Pitt  and  Dundas. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  1 97 

direct  all  (you  will  pardon  me  if  I  do  not  call  you  a  Minister)  have  not 
the  courage  to  look  our  situation  in  the  face  themselves,  and  to  state  it 
to  Parliament  too;  if  they  do  not  cease  to  consider  what  is  to  be  said  to 
their  adversaries  there,  as  an  eloquent  Bar  defence  grounded  on  the 
principles  of  those  adversaries,  rather  than  what  ought  to  be  done 
against  the  grand  adversary,  then  I  say  there  is  not  for  us  a  Ray  of 
Hope.  Their  talents  are  great  indeed — but  if  they  are  thus  directed, 
better  half,  with  a  just  direction,  than  the  whole,  than  twice  the 
whole,  in  the  present  course.  You  talk  of  coming  hither :  to  be 
sure,  if  it  can  be  done  without  detriment  to  the  great  concern,  it  will 
be  a  great  consolation  to  me.  But  indeed,  my  dear  friend,  the  times 
admit  no  secondary  attentions.  M"^  Burke — herself  very  lame  and 
rather  worse  at  ease  in  her  Limbs — desires  a  thousand  grateful 
remembrances  to  you  and  to  the  Ladies  of  your  family. 

Ever,  ever  y""® — the  remains  of 

Edm.  Burke. 


Earl   Spencer   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f-   I44-) 

[Endorsed,  24  Aug.  1796.] 
Dear  Windham, 

Though   I  am  quite  overwhelmed  today  with  heat  and 

Business,  I  cannot  drive  back  to  Wimbledon  without  giving  you  one 

Line,  to  express  my  sincere  satisfaction  at  your  being  returned  to 

Town.     The  Moment  is  too  critical  not  to  require  most  imperiously 

the  attendance  of  everyone  who  has  got  a  head  upon  his  shoulders 

to  deliberate  with,  and   any  remnant  of  Nerves  in  his  frame  with 

which  to  determine  what  it  becomes  a   man  to  do.      I  am    as  yet 

under  the  first  description,   but  really  can  hardly  be  considered  as 

under  the  second,  for  in  truth  I  am  much  nearer  being  knocked  up 

completely  than  ever  I  have  been  yet.     We  shall  meet  tomorrow  at 

a  Cabinet  adjourned  from  yesterday,  when  you  will  hear  a  good  deal 

which   bears   upon   the  topick    mentioned  in   Burke's    Letter  about 


198  SPENCER    TO    WINDHAM 

M''  Noble.  I  have  appointed  one  of  the  comiss''^  of  the  Navy  to 
talk  to  him  on  the  subject  of  Rohu's  business'  tomorrow  morning, 
and  you  shall  hear  the  Result. 

Yours  ever  sincerely 

Spencer. 


On  21  Aug.  1796,  Windham  wrote  a  very  strong  remonstrance 
to  Dundas  upon  the  reduction  of  the  corps  of  Mortemart  and 
Castries,  of  which  proposal  he  had  just  received  the  first  intima- 
tion in  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  York.  He  took  the  strongfest 
objection  to  the  measure  and  also  to  the  reduction  of  the  emigr6 
organisation  known  as  the  "cadres,"  which  "were  never  intended  for 
any  very  efficient  service,  at  least  out  of  France,  but  were  meant  in 
great  measure  as  a  means  of  honourable  though  scanty  subsistence 
for  the  persons  who  composed  them." 

Dundas  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37876,  f.  214.) 

Private  Wimbledon, 

2A,th  Augt.   1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  received  your  letter  from  Bath,  and  can  assure 
you  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  both  on  publick  and  private  considera- 
tions, that  nothing  gives  me  more  serious  Regret  than  the  misfortune 
I  labour  under  of  differing  from  you  essentially  on  the  Subjects  of 
your  letter.  At  the  same  time  you  must  be  aware  that  my  letter 
is  merely  a  letter  of  Suggestions,  subject  to  the  opinion  of  others, 
and  of  course  perfectly  open  to  any  Representations  you  can  urge 
against  it.  I  should  not  however  deal  with  you  in  that  Spirit  of 
openness  and  Candor,  which  I  hope  shall  continue  to  carry  me 
through  the  remainder  of  my  political  life,  as  it  has  actuated  the 
past,  if  I  did  not  state  to  you  that  I  conceive  your  reasoning  and 

^  Claims  of  a  Breton,  Vincent  Rohu,  employed  by  Sir  John  Warren  as  manager  of 
all  the  ckasse- marks ;  see  a  letter  of  Warren's,  Add.  MS.  37876,  f.  202,  and  Rohu's 
petition,  ib.  f.   120. 


DUNDAS    TO    WINDHAM  I99 

feelings  on  the  Subject  to  be  very  erroneous,  and  not  justified  in  any 
respect  by  the  Circumstances  of  the  respective  cases  to  which  your 
letter  refers.  I  have  no  objection  to  any  liberality  that  the  Generosity 
of  the  Country  may  feel  disposed  to  go  to  [to]  Emigres  of  any 
description  or  to  the  Cadres  in  particular,  but  I  am  positive  that  to 
maintain  them  or  any  other  corps  in  the  form  of  Military  Establish- 
ment, without  the  power  of  calling  upon  them  to  discharge  Military 
Duty,  is  what  the  Country  and  Parliament  neither  can  [n]or  ought 
to  bear.  This  is  the  only  point  on  which  in  the  present  Discussion 
we  differ. 

I  enclose  to  you  two  papers  which  I  wish  you  well  to  consider, 
and  I  am  sure  when  you  do  so  you  will  not  conceive  that  the  question 
is  whether  the  finances  of  the  Country  can  afford  a  Shilling  per  day 
to  persons  of  the  Description  you  give  them.  I  put  the  Statement 
in  the  strongest  way  you  can  desire  for  your  argument,  for  in  truth 
the  cadres  do  not  in  all  amount  to  above  650  men,  and  to  that 
complement  the  establishment  I  enclose  belongs.  I  wish  not  how- 
ever to  dwell  on  such  Minutiae.  I  beg:  to  be  understood  as  adverting- 
to  the  Principle,  not  the  Detail.  I  wish  however  to  draw  your 
attention,  if  I  can,  to  the  whole  of  the  Subject  as  now  circumstanced. 
If  you  had  adverted  to  it  in  the  light  I  conceive  it  ought  to  be 
viewed,  I  scarcely  think  you  would  have  inserted  some  Expressions 
which  have  dropt  from  your  Pen  in  writing  your  letter  now  before 
me.  But  whatever  differences  of  opinion  we  may  hold,  I  trust 
I  shall  ever  continue  to  feel  that  I  am  with  much  Respect  and 
Regard, 

yours  very  sincerely 

and  affect'y 

Henry  Dundas, 


200  WINDHAM    TO    DUNDAS 


Windham  to  Dundas. 

(Add.  MS.  37876,  f.   218.) 

Thursday  morn"  25//^  Au£'  1796. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  think  you  have  either  mistaken  my  letter,  or  I  have 
expressed  myself  inaccurately. 

The  general  measure  of  the  Reduction  of  the  French  Corps, 
whether  Regiments  or  Cadres,  is  a  measure  of  prudence  and  policy, 
any  objections  to  which  that  I  may  feel  may  in  great  measure  be 
done  away  by  modifications  of  which  the  measure  is  capable,  or, 
where  they  cannot  be  done  away,  may  be  yielded  to  the  authority  of 
others.  All  these  objections  and  their  answers  I  shall  be  most 
happy  and  desirous  to  discuss  with  you,  with  whom  I  know  they 
will  be  discussed  in  a  spirit  of  perfect  candour  and  liberality. — The 
only  point,  on  which,  with  my  ideas  of  it,  I  feel  it  impossible  to  give 
way,  is  the  mode  proposed  and  actually  ordered  for  the  reduction  of 
the  Reg*"^  of  Mortemart  and  Castries,  which  I  can  consider  as  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  direct  breach  of  their  capitulation,  and  on  this, 
when  it  comes  to  be  considered,  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  there 
can  be  two  opinions\ 

The  expense  of  the  Cadres,  at  the  moment  when  I  wrote,  I  did 
not  look  upon  to  be  so  considerable  as  you  state  it,  and  as  I  have 
since  found  it  to  be.  I  think  however  that  your  statement  is  a  little 
overdone". 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  with  great  truth  and  regard 

your  very  Faithful  Humble  Servant 

W.   Windham. 


^  persuade — opinions]  altered  from  "that  you  will  disagree  with  me." 

^  at  the  moment — overdone]  altered  from  "  I  had  not  considered  at  the  moment 

when  I  wrote  as  amounting  nearly  to  so  much  as  you  state.     I  think  in  fact  your 

statement  must  be  above  the  truth." 


burke  to  windham  20i 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   HI.) 

[Endorsed,  Aug.  circ.  27,  1796.] 

Your  Letter  has  had  the  effect  of  powerful  faith  and  has 
removed  a  Mountain  that  lay  upon  my  Breast.  I  am  happy  that  the 
Regiments  have  been  saved  from  slaughter — and  that  the  Cadres 
will  receive  a  tolerable  capitulation — tho',  merciful  God !  is  this  a 
time  to  get  rid  of  officers,  or  even  of  soldiers .''  But  really  the 
consolation  nearest  to  me  is  that  you  have  got  out  of  the  most 
difficult  of  all  situations  with  honour.  As  things  go,  to  prevent 
the  worst  is  a  great  good.  I  really  think  it  w*^  be  proper  for  you 
to  have  a  very  conciliatory,  but  at  the  same  time  a  very  serious 
conversation  with  the  D.  of  Y.,  that  he  may  be  made  sensible  that 
these  are  not  merely  military  or  merely  official  arrangements,  but 
indissolubly  connected  with  political  considerations  of  the  highest 
importance. 

As  to  my  health,  in  which  you  take  so  kind  an  Interest — I  believe 
I  am  quite  as  well  as  my  age  and  foregone  infirmities  will  ever 
permit  me  to  be.  The  Physicians  you  mention  are  both  of  an 
ability,  and  one  of  a  kindness,  not  to  be  disputed.  Chalybeates  have 
hitherto  been  as  poisons  to  me.  As  to  parties  of  amusement,  they 
seem  unnatural  and  the  thoughts  of  them  are  odious  to  me.  I  shall 
stay  here  at  least  a  week  longer,  if  not  more.  That  depends  upon 
M''®  Burke's  finding  Benefit  to  her  limbs  from  the  Pump.  She  had 
been  advised  to  it  from  the  beginning,  but  she  could  not  be  persuaded 
to  it,  from  her  eagerness  to  attend  to  me  beyond  the  necessity  of  the 
case.  To  be  sure  to  have  you  of  the  Party  would  be  to  me  the 
strongest  of  all  inducements  to  the  Scheme  you  recommend.  Cazales 
has  been  a  good  deal  out  of  Order,  but  he  gets  better,  and  is  infinitely 
flatter'd  by  your  remembrance.  N°  1 1  presents  its  grateful  compli- 
ments to  you  and  yours.  Salute  Woodford  for  me,  and  believe  me 
with  affectionate  and  grateful  attachment 

ever  y"^ 

Edm.  Burke. 

B.-W.  c.  26 


CHAPTER  VI. 

first  negotiations  for  peace. 

Burke   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.   37843,  f.   II3-) 

Bath,  Sepf  11,  1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  beyond  measure  mortified  at  not  being  able  to  meet 
you  at  Oxford.  But  it  will  do,  I  hope,  to  see  you  at  Beconsfield  on 
your  return.  There  I  tnust  be,  on  Wednesday  at  dinner ;  and  as  I 
cannot  leave  this  very  early  on  Tuesday  ;  and  as  Oxford,  besides  a 
worse  Road  is,  I  am  told,  twenty  mile  about,  on  that  Road  I  cannot 
compass  my  object  on  Wednesday.  I  bless  God  for  it,  I  am  much 
better ;  and  this  may  be  some  satisfaction  to  the  good  nature  of 
friends  on  a  private  account — but  as  for  the  publick,  a  fear  of 
Enemies  has  multiplied  them  on  ail  sides,  and  a  desire  of  concealing 
appearances  has  aggravated  the  reality;  and  we  seem  to  me  to  be 
descending  to  the  Center  of  ruin  with  so  accelerated  a  motion,  thro' 
the  thin  medium  of  pusillanimity,  disgrace,  and  humiliation,  that  it 
seems  to  be  an  attempt  to  fight  with  the  established  Laws  of  Nature 
to  stop  the  course  which  things  are  taking.  But  on  this  we  shall  talk 
more  when  we  meet.  We  think  national  and  home  degradation  a 
sort  of  rescource.  God  almighty  bless  you  and  preserve  you  from 
your  share  in  the  Embassy  of  M''  Grenville.     Adieu,  adieu. 

Y''  unhappy  but  ever  attach'*  friend 

Edm.   Burke. 


WINDHAM  S    niARY  203 

The  state  of  Windham's  mind  in  relation  to  the  cabinet's  decisions 
and  the  mission  of  Lord  Malmesbury  to  propose  peace  with  France 
was  not  a  happy  one.  "  Council  again  on  Russian  business,"  he 
notes  on  29  Sept.,  "decision  that  nothing  further  could  be  done  with 
respect  to  assurances  to  Nelson  of  keeping  the  Fleet  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;"  and  writing  to  Mrs  Crewe  next  day^  he  is  in  the  depths  of 
pessimism  : — "  Where  can  Pelham  have  got  the  notions  which  you 
describe  .''... There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  matter.  Peace  made 
and  the  Republic  established,  there  is  an  end  of  the  power,  inde- 
pendence, government,  morals,  of  this  country,  as  well  as  of  every 
other  throughout  Europe. ...Yet  this  is. ..what  the  booby  politicians 
in  this  country  are  all  wishing  for  and  holding  out  as  the  only  means 
by  which  our  ruin  is  to  be  averted.  It  is  really  such  a  state  of  stupid 
infatuation  and  desperate  baseness  as  destroys  all  interest  in  the 
country,  and  puts  one,  for  one's  relief  and  as  the  only  means  of 
escaping  from  the  pain  of  one's  own  reflections,  upon  the  fatal 
expedient  of  locking  oneself  up  in  insensibility  and  seeking  one's 

satisfactions  only  from  private  and  personal  gratifications Who  is 

right  upon  the  subject  of  Irish  politics  I  am  not  competent  to  say. 
M""  B.  is  wrong  by  excess  and  exaggeration,  I  dare  say ;  but  whether 
he  is  so  in  the  main  I  should  much  doubt."  A  month  later  he  writes 
to  the  same  correspondent,  31  Oct.",  "Your  letter  is  so  good,  such  a 
genuine  effusion  of  pure,  virtuous  feeling  and  native  sense,  that  after 
taking  away  the  last  page,  in  which  there  is  something  about  Irish 
politics,  which  in  the  intolerance  of  Beaconsfield  might  not  pass, 
I  shall  send  thither  the  remainder,  as  the  most  gratifying  praise  that 
M""  B.  can  receive.  Do  not  imagine  that  in  such  a  state  of  things 
I  shall  be  induced  to  take  a  new  lease  of  my  connection  with  the 
Ministry,  or  do  more  than  drag  on  in  my  present  situation  till  I  see 
what  turn  things  take.  If  I  could  have  been  sure  that  Lord 
Malmesbury's  despicable  embassy  would  succeed,  and  that  peace 
must  be  the  immediate  consequence,  I  should  have  been  out  long 
since.  It  does  not  appear  to  me  at  present,  though  in  that  one 
must  be  regulated  by  circumstances,  that  I  shall  ever  outlive, 
ministerially,  the  arrival  of  a  French  ambassador  in  London.  It  is 
'  Diary,  p.  341.  '  Diary,  p.  344. 

26 — 2 


204  WINDHAM    TO    MRS    CREWE 

enough  to  outlive  the  knowledge  of  an  English  minister  in  Paris. 
But  that  alone,  though  conclusive  as  to  honour,  is  not  quite  so  as 
to  ruin.  When  the  other  event  takes  place,  from  that  moment 
we  go  sinking,  lower  and  lower,  into  Jacobinism  ;  M""  Pitt  however 
remaining  astride  of  the  country,  unless 

by  some  good  chance 
The  strong  rebuff  of  a  tempestuous  cloud 
Instinct  with  fire  and  nitre,  hurries  us' 

either  aloft  or  sideways,  as  it  may  happen,  but  with  some  violent 
concussion  that  may  throw  M""  Pitt  out  of  his  seat  and  substitute 
M'"  Fox  in  his  place,  to  be  succeeded  by  Sheridan,  by  Home  Took, 
and  so  on  through  the  long  dynasty  of  murderous  democrats  and 
proconsuls  of  France." 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.    115.) 

Tuesday  [i  Nov.   1796]. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  was  most  unfortunately  detain'd  when  you  waited  here 

two  hours  for  me.      I  proposed  to  go  to  the  country  directly ;  but 

when  you  have  staid  so  long  for  me,  it  is  fit  that  I  should  wait  your 

leisure.     So  here  I  continue  this  day,  and  am  at  your  Service,  to  go 

to  you  or  to  receive  you  here,  when  you  please.     The  more   I   think 

of  it,    the  more    I   feel   astonished  that  the   Ministry  can   think  of 

putting  the   whole   affairs  of    Europe   blindfold    into    the   hands   of 

Lord  Malmesbury ;  and  is  [it]  at  this  time  they  are  mad  enough  to 

evacuate  Corsica,  and   is   it  now  that  they  are  to  look  for  a  fleet 

to  confront  that  of  Spain  ?     My  head  and  heart  are  ready  to  split 

at  once.     Adieu. 

¥•■«  truly 

Edm.  Burke. 


'  Paradise  Lost,  u.  11.  935  sqq.     The  quotation  is  not  quite  accurate. 


burke  to  windham  205 

Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  1 1 7-) 

Friday,  Nov.  ii,  1796. 
My  dear  Sir, 

It  is  worth  being  ill  to  become  the  subject  of  so  much 

indulgent  and  affectionate  Sympathy  as  I  have  experienced  from  you. 

I  think  I  get  better ;  though  I  threw  up  something  from  my  Stomach 

today,  and  that  with  some  difficulty,  there  was  no  blood — what  came  • 

from  me  a  day  or  two  ago   was  very  bloody,   though  without  any 

effort  at  all.     D''  Brocklesby',  who  came  kindly  to  visit  me,  thinks 

nothing  of  that  Circumstance,  nor  does  D''  Smith,  from  whom  I  had 

a  letter  today.     So  it  will  pass  of[f]  I  trust,  and  leave  me  where  it 

found  me,  which,  though  it  was  in  no  very  good  state,  is  as  much  as 

I  can  expect.     I  have  not  been  out  today — and  at  present  change  of 

place  is  not  very  fit  for  me. 

The  City  Business  is  curious  enough.  It  is  but  a  foretaste  of 
what  M*"  Pitt  is  to  expect  from  his  mistaken  Politicks  at  home  and 
abroad.  His  favourite  Commissary",  who  left  us  for  Lord  North, 
and  Lord  North  for  him,  contrives  a  Triumph  for  M""  Fox  over  him, 
when  he  is  led  before  the  Triumphal  Carr  of  his  Enemy,  cover'd  over 
with  obloquy  and  mud  !  Oh !  but  the  Newspaper  says,  these  Mobs, 
that  drew  the  one  and  threw  stones  and  dirt  at  the  other,  were  hired 
Mobs.  Possibly  it  may  be  so,  but  I  am  sure  such  hirelings  would 
have  fared  but  ill,  if  a  general  Sentiment,  more  mitigated  indeed  and 
decent,  did  not  go  with  those  who  committed  outrages. — The  whole 
democratic  corps  was  there.  Why  was  that  .""  Ought  Wooden-head 
to  have  been  left  to  his  own  indiscretion  } 

Indeed  M*"  Pitt  will  daily  feel  the  effect  of  his  leaving  himself 
without  a  Cause,  and  without  any  independent  and  honourable 
support.      He  cannot  hinder  the  world  from  feeling  that  when   he 

'  Richard  Brocklesby,  M.D.,  an  old  schoolfellow  of  Burke's.  He  also  attended 
Dr  Johnson. 

'  Apparently  Brook  Watson,  the  new  Lord  Mayor ;  but  I  am  not  able  to  explain 
all  the  allusions  in  this  passage.  The  Times  account  of  Lord  Mayor's  Day  mentions 
that  Prince  Ernest's  carriage  was  drawn  by  the  mob  to  Guildhall,  but  says  nothing  of 
any  other  disturbance. 


206  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

assumes  M'"  Foxes  principles,  that  M""  Fox  had  the  advantage 
of  an  earlier  possession,  and  proposed  peace  when  peace  might 
clearly  be  made  with  more  advantage  than  it  can  be  made  at  present. 
The  people,  God  knows,  reason  but  little.  But  surely  our  shameful 
Flight  from  the  Mediterranean  must  be  felt  as  the  most  disgraceful 
Event,  and  possibly  the  most  fatal,  that  has  ever  occurr'd  in  our 
History.  He  would  not  suffer  a  spirit  to  be  raised  in  favour  of 
himself  and  his  Measures.  He  will  find  a  spirit  raised  against 
him  and  them,  which  he  will  endeavour  in  vain  to  resist.  He  will, 
by  and  by,  be  as  ill  treated  in  his  person  in  London  as  he  is  by 
his  substitute  at  Paris.  Well !  God  send  you  all  well  out  of  this 
ugly  scrape. 

Believe  me,   my  dear  Sir,  with  sincere  gratitude  and  affection 

ever  most  truly  and  faithfully  yours 

Edm.   Burke. 


William  Elliot  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37876,  f.  251.) 

Private.  Dublin  Castle, 

22"^  November,   1796. 

My  dear  Windham, 

If  I  were  conscious  of  having  had  an  hour's  leisure, 
since  your  letter  came  into  my  hands,  I  should  not  be  able  to  forgive 
myself  for  having  still  to  thank  you  for  it ;  but  the  arrangement  of  the 
new  Corps  has  brought  me  all  on  a  sudden  into  a  state  of  communi- 
cation with  half  the  Country  Gentlemen  of  Ireland,  and  has  so  much 
encreased  the  business  of  my  Office,  that  for  the  last  five  or  six 
weeks  I   have  had  little  time  left  for  private  correspondence. 

I  have  not  however  been  so  entirely  engrossed  as  not  to  have 
looked  with  great  anxiety  and  with  great  grief  and  shame  at  what 
has  been  doing  in  England.  You  will  believe  how  sincerely  I 
sympathize  with  you  in  your  sentiments  respecting  this  humiliating 
mission  to  Paris,  by  which  we  have  abandoned  the  true  principle  of 


W.    ELLIOT    TO   WINDHAM  207 

the  War,  and  have  recognized  the  usurpation  which  it  was  our  object 
to  suppress.  I  have  nevertheless  considerable  hopes  that  the  pride 
and  ambition  of  France  will  avert  from  us  the  ruin  of  a  Peace ;  but 
if  we  should  be  saved,  we  shall  owe  our  preservation  to  the  vices  of 
our  Enemy,  and  not  to  our  own  virtue. 

I  had  been  led  to  fear,  by  some  paragraphs  in  the  Papers,  and 
also  by  some  reports  which  I  had  from  private  quarters,  that  this 
course  of  evil  measures  was  likely  to  drive  you  from  Office,  but 
I  am  glad  to  learn  from  your  own  authority  that  my  intelligence 
on  this  point  was  erroneous.  If  you  were  to  quit  your  present 
connexions,  and  were  to  stand  alone,  the  situation  would  certainly 
be  dignified,  but  I  much  doubt  its  utility.  Whilst  you  remain  in  the 
Cabinet  you  may  perhaps  have  opportunities  of  correcting  in  some 
degree  the  spirit  of  Errour  which  seems  to  predominate  in  our 
Councils.  At  least  this  appears  to  be  the  only  chance;  and  I  am 
sure  that  it  is  the  only  motive  which  can  induce  your  Friends  to  wish 
that  you  should  continue  to  expose  yourself  to  such  vexation  as  you 
must  have  lately  endured. 

The  letters  on  the  Regicide  Peace  have  been  published  most 
opportunely.  I  have  observed  with  great  triumph  and  exultation 
the  effect  which  they  have  produced  here.  When  they  were  first 
announced  in  the  papers,  certain  wise  and  cautious  Statesmen  were 
much  shocked  at  the  imprudence  of  the  Title.  The  fame  of  the 
Author  however  compelled  them  to  read  the  work,  and  its  eloquence 
forced  them  to  admire  it,  and  now  I  perceive  they  begin,  though 
rather  reluctantly,  to  confess  their  acquiescence  in  the  doctrine  of  it. 
I  am  very  anxious  and  impatient  for  the  sequel  of  it,  as  1  am  sure  it 
will  make  a  great  impression  on  the  publick  mind,  and  may  perhaps 
move  the  nation  to  a  right  sense  of  its  moral  and  political  salvation. 

I  shall  not  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  condition  of  things  in  this 
Country.  You  see  the  dispatches,  and  by  them  you  perceive  that 
the  North  is  in  a  state  little  short  of  Rebellion.  With  regard  to  my 
own  situation  I  shall  only  say  that  it  accords  very  much  with  the  idea 
you  seem  to  entertain  of  it.  It  is  not  suitable  either  to  my  taste,  my 
habits  or  my  principles,  and  I  shall  endeavour  to  extricate  myself 
from  it  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Session  of  Parliament.     All  this, 


208  W.    ELLIOT   TO   WINDHAM 

however,  I  have  very  particular  reasons  for  wishing  may  not  go 
further  than  yourself  and  Burke. 

I  have  not  hitherto  been  able  to  procure  any  intelligence  relative 
to  M'"  Brabazon  Smyth,  but  I  will  make  further  enquiries. 

Some  of  the  Embarkation  returns,  which  you  have  called  for,  are 
lost,  but  I  send  you  all  that  we  have,  and  I  likewise  send  you  an 
abstract,  which  was  made  some  time  ago  by  a  Clerk  in  the  War 
Office  for  his  own  private  information,  and  which  I  believe 
contains  correctly  the  strength  of  the  Regiments  whose  Embarka- 
tion returns  are  missing,  as  it  stood  a  few  weeks  previous  to  their 
Embarkation. 

As  the  Troops  which  were  under  General  White  were  not  on 
this  establishment,  I  cannot  give  you  an  exact  account  of  the  loss 
they  sustained  at  Cork  ;  but  I  believe  it  did  not  exceed  the  statement 
which  you  will  find  in  the  enclosed  note  from  D""  Kenny,  who  is  at 
the  head  of  the  Irish  Medical  Board,  and  is  a  very  acute,  intelligent 
man. 

I  have  mentfoned  to  Lord  Camden  your  request  for  leave  of 
absence  for  General  O'ConnelP,  but  it  will  not  be  granted  unless  he 
can  clear  up  a  transaction  which,  if  the  points  of  it  are  true,  is 
certainly  discreditable  to  him.  Whilst  it  was  understood  that  his 
Regiment  was  to  be  reduced,  a  M'"  O'Donaghue,  the  Quarter- Master 
of  the  Regiment,  proposed  to  resign  his  commission  in  favour  of  his 
Brother,  and  obtained  General  O'Connell's  consent  to  the  arrange- 
ment. The  resignation  accordingly  took  place,  and  General 
O'Connell  conformably  to  his  promise  recommended  O'Donaghue's 
Brother  ;  but  before  the  appointment  could  be  completed,  he  with- 
drew his  recommendation  and  named  his  own  nephew,  a  child  of  six 
years  of  age. —  I  send  you  copies  of  the  letters  on  the  subject  that 
you  may  enquire  about  it. 

It  is  now  past  two  in  the  morning,  and  I  am  too  tired  to  write  more 
— so  farewell.  Pray  recommend  me  to  all  my  Friends  but  particularly 
to  M""  and  M''^  Burke,  and  pray  tell  M'"  Burke  that  I  should  have 
written  to  him  long  ago  if  I  had  had  anything  good  to  have  com- 
municated to  him.      I   should  be  very  grateful  to  Woodford,   if  he 

'  Count  Daniel  O'Connell. 


W.    ELLIOT   TO   WINDHAM  209 

would  copy  your  Official   Bulletins  and  send  them  to  me,  as  these 
anxious  times  make  one  very  impatient  for  continental  news. 
Believe  me  with  the  most  unalterable  and  unceasing  attachment 
most  truly  and  affectionately  yours 

William  Elliot. 

You  will  perceive  by  O'Donoughue's  last  letter  to  me,  that,  since 
it  has  been  understood  that  the  Brigade  is  not  to  be  reduced,  General 
O'Connell  has  expressed  his  wish  that  O'Donoughue  should  retain 
his  Commission  of  Quarter-Master,  as  his  continuance  in  the  situation 
will  be  of  essential  importance  to  the  Regiment.  This  circumstance 
however  does  not  disperse  the  Cloud  which  hangs  over  the  first  part 
of  the  transaction,  and  Pelham  is  anxious  that  the  matter  should 
undergo  further  inquiry. 


Burke   to   Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-  II9-) 

J\^ov.  25,   1796. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I    have  not   been    very  well,   for  which  rea.son    I    have 

written  most  of  my  Letters  by  Nagle's  hand.     But  the  little  I  shall 

say  now,  though  from  a  very  full  heart,  full  near  to  bursting,  shall  be 

with   my   own — not  because   I   distrust  Nagle's  prudence,   nor  care 

a  farthing  whether  my  own  Sentiments  are  known  or  not,  but  when 

one  tells  one's  private  thoughts  to  a  friend,  that  friend,  by  being  the 

mere  object  of  communication  and  passive  in  it,  does  become  in  some 

sort  involved  in  the  fault  of  the  matter  that  is  communicated.     You 

know  what  I  think  of  the  surrender  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland  to 

Luttrel'.      Portugal  is   now  given,    as  publick    report   will   have  it, 

to  General  Stuarf.     What  his  military  Capacity  may  be,  whether 

equal  to  that  of  the  Gen'  we  formerly  gave  to  that  Kingdom,  the 

'   Henry  Lawes  Luttrell,  2nd  Earl  of  Carhampton,  Commander-in-Chief  in  Ireland. 
'  Major-General  Hon.  Charle.s  Stuart,  4th  son  of  the  Earl  of  Bute. 

B.-w.  c.  27 


2IO  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

Count  of  Lippe,  I  know  not.  It  may  be  so — but  whilst  I  lived 
in  the  world  I  never  heard  of  the  military  abilities  of  Gen'  Stuart. 
Of  his  civil  dispositions  his  late  proceedings  in  our  quondam  Kingdom 
of  Corsica  afford  a  sufficient  indication.  This  I  am  quite  certain  of, 
that  there  is  something  strongly  redolent  of  madness  in  that  family, 
which  marks  (in  a  general)  a  mischievous  and  malignant  turn. 
There  is  great  pride,  great  impracticability,  a  propensity  to  obscure, 
dark  and  puzzled  Politicks.  I  look  on  Portugal  as  lost  by  this 
appointment.  He  certainly  will  not  be  long  well  with  that  Court 
and  that  Nation.  He  will  despise  and  will  quarrel  with  the  emigrant 
Corps,  and  in  their  discussions  it  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  on  which 
side  the  decision  of  all  controversies  will  be.  We  have  abandoned 
Italy  politically,  commercially,  morally  ;  Spain  is  become  our  Enemy. 
Our  Negotiation  at  Paris  will  serve  no  purpose,  but  to  discover  the 
limits  of  what  it  is  we  propose  for  the  Emperor — for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  Regicides  (much  abler  politicians  than  we  are) 
in  their  scheme  of  opening  a  separate  treaty  with  him  ;  and  now  our 
last  hold  of  the  Continent — General  Stuart  is  to  secure  to  us.  It  is 
all  over.  No  experience  of  the  fatal  Effects  of  Jobbs  will  hinder 
Jobbers  from  Jobbing  to  the  last.  I  say  there  is  manifest  recognized 
ability  in  the  world  and  in  our  power,  both  at  home  and  abroad — if 
we  were  not  resolved  to  throw  it  away.  I  know  how  delicate  an 
affair  this  must  be  to  you  ;  both  as  to  the  person  doing  the  Jobb,  and 
the  person  for  whom  it  is  done.  They  will  say  truly  that  all  this  is 
personal.  So  it  is.  Every  question  of  fitness  for  employment  is 
personal.  But  then  the  use  and  effect  of  that  employment  depend 
wholly  on  the  aptitude  or  unfitness  of  the  Person.  I  commit  this 
delicate  Business  to  your  thoughts.  But  I  say  both  nations  are 
betrayed  if  this  man  is  sent.  I  fear  you  can  do  nothing.  God 
direct  you.  I  can  write  no  more.  I  am  a  good  deal  worse  this  day 
or  two  past. 

Yours  with  entire  and  affectionate  attachment 

Edm.   Burke. 

Wherefore  write  ?     One  day's  Jobb  defeats  the   Labours   of  a 
year. 


burke  to  woodford  2  i  i 

Burke  to   Woodford. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.  121.) 

Beconsfield,  Ded"  9,   1796. 
My  dear  Sir 

The  Renewal  of  your  hopes  gives  us  great  and  sincere 
Joy,  and  we  hope  that  is  only  a  beginning  to  a  Satisfaction  most  solid 
and  permanent.  The  Weather  is  sadly  against  you,  as  it  is  to  all 
who  must  submit  to  any  Operation.  I  have  read  the  Debate  on  the 
Budget'.  I  think  Pitt  was  less  lofty  and  loud  in  his  triumph  than 
I  expected.  As  to  Fox,  he  seemed  in  a  perfect  paroxism  of  Rage 
and  Fury.  However,  I  cannot  help  remarking  that  the  business  of 
La  Fayette  is  not  at  this  moment  brought  up  for  nothing.  I  take  it 
for  granted  the  Ministers  will  negative  so  bold  and  absurd  a  pro- 
position but  I  think  the  tone  in  which  they  take  up  the  matter  is 
very  material,  and  I  wish  you  would  let  M''  Windham  know  that 
I  think  so.  M*"  Fox  has  all  along  professed  that  we  ought  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  interior  affairs  of  another  Nation,  however 
oppressive  they  may  [be].  Citizen  La  Fayette  is  not  our  fellow- 
subject,  nor  do  we  know  of  any  merit  he  has  towards  this  Country. 
If  we  forget  his  going  from  the  King's  Lev^e,  where  he  was  received 
with  distinction,  to  kindle  up  a  War  against  his  Majesty  in  America, 
we  may  have  occasion  for  that  act  of  oblivion,  and  it  may  be  right 
for  us  to  grant  it.  But  when  we  forget  this,  we  forget  all  that  we  as 
Englishmen  know  about  him.  We  well  know  what  sort  of  subject 
he  was  to  his  own  Sovereign,  whom  he  three  times  imprisoned.  We 
know  his  cruel  and  insolent  treatment  of  the  French  Noblesse  at 
Paris  when  on  the  28  of  Feb>'  '91  they  attempted  with  their  side- 
arms  to  defend  the  King  against  one  of  the  most  atrocious  attempts 
that  was  made  against  his  Life. — Are  we  to  forget  that  this  man, 
in  whose  favour  we  want  to  break  open  the  Emperor's  prison,  him- 
self imprisoned  the  unhappy  Foulon  and  delivered  him  over  to 
a  wicked  gang  of  his  Brother  conspirators,  who  put  him  to  Death 

'  7  and  8  Dec.  It  was  on  the  first  reading  of  the  Budget  resolutions,  on  the  7th,  that 
Fox  raised  the  question  of  La  Fayette's  rigorous  imprisonment  by  the  Emperor,  which 
was  afterwards  llie  subject  of  a  special  motion  by  General  Fitzpatrick  on  16  Dec. 

27 — 2 


212  BURKE   TO   WOODFORD 

with  all  circumstances  of  the  most  unparalleled'  cruelty  ? — Are  we  to 
trouble  ourselves  ab*^  his  prison,  who  has  been  the  cause  of  the 
emprisonment  of  more  than  a  million  of  innocent  victims,  multitudes 
of  whom  have  been  dragged  out  of  those  Jails  only  to  be  massacred 
in  a  manner  inferior  only  to  the  cruelty  exercised  upon  Foji/on"  ? 
Are  we  to  prescribe  to  the  Emperor  what  degree  of  resentment  he 
should  shew  to  any  of  the  persons  who  so  cruelly  insulted  and 
imprison'd  one  of  his  nearest  Relations,  who  locked  her  up  in  a  Jail 
at  Paris,  out  of  which  she  never  went  but  to  another  Jail,  and  thence 
to  a  cruel  execution  ?  What  are  his  merits  then  towards  us,  towards 
his  Master  and  towards  the  Emperor  ?  I  should  rather  have  thought 
that  if  M''  Fox  was  touched  with  the  Fate  of  a  person  cruelly  and 
against  the  Laws  of  War  imprison'd.  He  w'^  rather  think  of  moving 
an  Address  for  an  instruction  to  Lord  Malmsbury  in  favor  of  his 
meritorious  Countryman  Sir  Sidney  Smith* ;  or  if  he  was  influenced 
by  general  motives  of  Humanity  that  He  would  move  that  something 
might  be  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  Peace  for  the  20,000  Priests  that 
are  at  this  Hour  kept  in  Prison  in  France,  and  support  the  pro- 
position of  La  Crettelle  Jun""  for  their  enlargement  who*,  he  knows, 
or  may  know  if  he  pleases,  are  in  prison  and  ready  to  perish  for 
famine.  Why  does  he  not  move  that  Provision  may  be  made  in  the 
treaty  for  the  return  to  their  country  and  their  property  of  the 
innumerable  Victims  of  La  Fayette's  rebellion,  of  which  this  country 
is  full,  and  who  are  scattered  all  over  Europe,  a  heavy  tax  upon  the 
Humanity  of  Mankind  ? — But,  no,  there  is  no  Person  worthy  the 
attention  of  a  British  Parliament  but  citizen  La  Fayette.  With  what 
face  can  M''  Fox  desire  a  national  interference  with  the  Emperor  for 
this  man,  at  the  very  moment  when  He  is  opposing,  as  all  along  he 

'  MS.  unpairalled.  The  spelling  is  Nagle's  ;  the  first  part  of  the  letter  is  all  in  his 
hand. 

"  Murdered  22  July  1789.     For  the  details  see  Carlyle,  book  v.,  ch.  vni. 

'  Taken  prisoner  18  April  1796,  in  a  privateer  lugger  which  he  had  captured  off 
Havre,  the  tide  having  carried  him  out  of  reach  of  his  ship.  The  French  refused  to 
exchange  him  on  the  ground  that  he  had  destroyed  the  vessels  at  Toulon  when  not 
holding  a  commission.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Lord  Malmesbury  had  been  charged  with 
instructions  to  take  a  strong  line  with  the  French  government  for  Sir  Sidney's  release. 

*  MS.  whom. 


BURKE   TO   WOODFORD  213 

has  opposed,  the  grant  of  any  Loan  or  subsidy  or  assistance  whatso- 
ever to  this  Our  Ally  ?  And  who,  in  the  moment  of  his  Proposition, 
instead  of  an  attempt  to  sooth  or  soften  him,  speaks  an  insulting 
language,  such  as  was  never  heard  before  in  this  time,  and  before 
this  time  never  would  have  been  tolerated  in  relation  to  an  Ally 
of  this  Country  ?  I  think  the  manner  in  which  this  Business  is  to 
be  opposed  is  of  very  high  importance,  as  I  take  it  for  granted  there 
is  no  idea  of  yielding  to  it  publickly  or  privately.  In  the  name  of 
God,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  project  of  M'"  Pitt  concerning  the 
further  relief  of  the  Poor  ?  What  relief  do  they  want,  except  that 
which  it  will  be  difficult  indeed  to  give,  to  make  them  more  frugal 
or  more  industrious  ?  I  see  he's  running  for  popular  plates  with 
M''  Fox.  Adieu.  Forgive  all  this  trouble.  M'-"*  Burke  cordially 
salutes  you".  I  am  one  day  better  another  worse.  Michaelmas  with 
all  its  Riggs'  is  not  more  tempestuous  than  the  ^Eolian  Cave  of  my 
stomach.  I  find  it  difficult  to  apply  to  anything.  Lord  Malmsbury 
fills  me  with  despair,  or  rather  those  who  have  sent  him.  Are  they 
quite  mad  to  found  their  Treaty  on  a  Basis  of  Exchanges  and 
mutual  Cessions?  Why  did  M""  Pitt  conceal  the  succours  he  gave 
the  Emperor  ?  Policy  required  they  should  be  as  publick  as 
possible.  Why  not  state  that  he  intends  to  give  him  a  further 
subsidy  .'' 

Faithfully  and  aff'^'^  yours 

Edm.   Burke. 


Burke  to  Windham. 

(.4dd.  MS.  37843,  f.   123.) 

Sunday,  Dec.   18,   1796. 

Though  writing,  my  dear  Sir,  is  not  to  me  the  pleasantest  of  all 

operations,    I    should    deny    myself    a    very    great    pleasure,    well 

purchased   by  more  pain   than    I    have   in   writing  a  few    Lines,   if 

I   failed  to  thank  you,  in  the  name  of  time  humanity,  for  what  you 

'  MS.  releif. 

"  At  this  point  Burke  takes  up  the  pen  himself. 

^  Equinoctial  gales.      The  word,  used  more  than   once  by  Burke,   is  quoted    in 
the  Dialect  Dictionary  as  surviving  in  Cheshire. 


214  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

have  done  to  expose  the  false  and  spurious.  The  whole  drift  of  this 
motion'  is  subservient  to  the  general  plan  of  making  every  power  in 
alliance  with  this  Country  odious.  If  M^  Fox  were  a  cheerful 
supporter  of  this  alliance,  and  a  person  earnest  in  voting  to  the 
Emperour  the  amplest  supplies  for  the  assertion  of  the  Common 
Cause,  then  it  might  possibly  be  supposed  that  this  interposition 
arose  from  an  earnest  Zeal  for  the  Emperour's  honour,  and  the 
Interests  of  humanity.  Nothing  less.  This  alliance  is,  and  has 
been  from  the  beginning,  the  object  of  his  execration.  As  I  should 
have  expected  even  from  the  report  of  your  Speech  in  the  Sun,  the 
impression  it  made  on  the  House  was  great,  and  decisive.  Laurence 
told  me  that  this  impression  did  honour  both  to  the  speaker  and  to 
the  feelings  of  the  House,  which  he  states  to  have  been,  on  both 
sides,  just  what  they  ought  to  have  been.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
Ability  of  that  Speech  ;  and  it  was  necessary  it  should  be  so  ;  as  no 
over  abundant  Zeal  was  shewn  for  the  general  Cause  of  sovereign 
powers  by  those  who  had  spoken  before  you.  I  do  not  think  it  was 
necessary  to  be  over  earnest  in  disclaiming  any  part  that  our  Court 
was  guessed  to  have  had  in  that  transaction.  For  the  sake  of  Truth 
it  might  be  disclaimed  ;  but  not  as  an  imputation  w'^**  would  have 
reflected  disgrace  on  our  Court  if  it  had  been  true.  Some  philosopher 
(not  of  modern  Paris)  on  hearing  a  Hymn  of  some  Poet  to  Diana, 
wished  that  the  Poet  should  be  rewarded  with  a  Daughter  resemblingr 
the  Diana  he  had  described.  I  am  sure  that  any  Prince  taking  an 
Interest  in  Citizen  La  Fayette  well  deserves  that  he  should  find  so 
loyal  a  subject  and  so  faithful  a  Commander  of  his  Guards  and  such 
an  active  protector  of  himself  and  his  family  as  Citizen  La  Fayette ! 
What  a  Folly  was  the  precedent  of  AsgiP  }     Was  Asgil  a  person 

'  General  Fitzpatrick's,  for  an  address  praying  for  intervention  in  favour  of 
La  Fayette. 

"  Captain  Charles  Asgill,  afterwards  2nd  Baronet.  He  was  taken  prisoner  in  the 
American  War,  1781,  and  chosen  by  lot  from  among  the  prisoners  for  retaliation,  in 
order  to  enforce  Washington's  demand  for  the  surrender  of  Lippincott,  who  had 
executed  a  Republican,  Joseph  Huddy,  by  order  of  a  committee  of  loyalists.  The 
British  authorities  repudiated  the  execution  of  Huddy  and  instituted  an  enquiry  into 
Lippincott's  responsibility.  Louis  XVI  was  induced  to  intervene  in  Asgill's  favour 
with  Washington,  who  seems  however  to  have  already  decided,  as  a  result  of  the 
enquiry,  upon  Asgill's  release. 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  215 

who  had  rebelled  against  any  Sovereign  ?  Had  Asgil  imprison'd, 
and  deHvered  over  to  Hangmen,  any  of  the  Queen  of  France's 
relations?  He  was  an  innocent  Gentleman  without  a  pretence  of 
Crime,  taken  out  by  Ballot  from  some  English  Prisoners  by  General 
Washington  to  be  made  a  subject  of  retaliation.  Compare  the  Cases. 
Nothing  but  M'"  Foxes  wild  enthusiasm  for  the  Revolution  in  France 
could  make  him  think  of  the  Case  as  a  precedent.  As  to  the  pair  of 
Wretches'  taken  with  this  La  Fayette,  they  are  (if  possible)  more 
detestable  Rufifians  than  he. 

The  Fact  is,  that  the  minority  here  must  consider  the  mere  fact 
of  Rebellion  to  be  the  most  transcendent  of  all  merit.  Be  it  so,  with 
them,  if  they  please.  But  is  that  a  plea  that  is  likely  to  be  prevalent 
with  Sovereigns.''  However,  I  shall  always  take  it  as  an  infallible 
criterion  of  the  principles  and  dispositions  of  any  men  of  our  time, 
that  they  think  a  rebellion  against  such  a  prince  as  Louis  the  I6''^ 
and  at  the  moment  too  when  he  was  making  immense  sacrifices  of 
his  power  to  the  establishment  of  order  and  Liberty,  to  be  the  most 
meritorious  of  all  actions,  or  an  action  of  any  merit  at  all.  God  save 
me  from  falling  into  the  merciful  hands  of  those  who  think  the 
Business  of  Foulon  and  Bertier  no  act  of  cruelty.  God  save  you 
from  their  humanity  and  compassion.  This  has  been  a  very  bad  day 
with  me.  But  I  have  begun  to  work.  I  see  I  must  fortifye  myself 
on  the  point  of  the  Nation's  ability  to  prosecute  the  War.  I  would 
not  wish  however  to  call  much  attention  to  the  collection  of  materials 
I  wish  you  [to]  procure  for  me.  I  think  they  may  easily  be  had 
at  the  Excise  and  Customs.  I  don't  at  all  like  the  way  in  which  I 
left  poor  Woodford.  I  confess  I  feel  alarmed  for  him.  His  cure 
seems  more  dangerous  even  than  the  distemper.  Again  and  again 
I   congratulate  you  on   your  manliness. 

Ever  truly  y*"* 

Edm.  Burke. 


'  La  Tour  Maubourg  and  Bureau  de  Pusy. 


2l6  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

Windham   to   Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  401.) 

Park  Street,  Westminster, 

December  20,  1796. 

My  Dear  Sir, 

I  hope  in  future,  and  so  long  as  writing  shall  continue 
painful,  you  will  never  abate  my  satisfaction  in  the  receipt  of  your 
letters  by  the  reflection  of  their  not  {sic)  being  written  in  your  own 
hand.  Expressions  so  kind,  and  approbation  so  flattering,  can  never 
fail  to  be  welcome,  in  whatever  hand  they  may  be  conveyed. 

The  speech  which  you  so  obligingly  commend  is  a  source  to  me 
of  satisfaction,  from  better  considerations  than  any  opinion  that  I 
entertain  of  its  merit.  In  that  respect  it  is  of  as  little  consequence  as 
need  be.  But  its  effect  has  been  beyond  both  its  merit  and  any 
expectation  that  I  could  have  formed  from  it ;  and  is  a  strong  proof 
of  what  may  be  done  with  the  public  mind,  and  how  easily  men  may 
be  made  to  think  and  feel  rightly,  in  innumerable  cases  where  at 
present  they  do  not,  were  reason  fairly  applied  to  them.  You  cannot 
conceive  how  many  people  I  have  had  who  have  thanked  me  for 
speaking  their  sentiments  ;  and  what  a  quantity  of  right  disposition 
there  has  appeared  upon  this  question,  which  would  have  absolutely 
languished  and  died,  and  been  lost,  both  now  and  for  ever,  if  it  had 
not  been  revived,  and  animated,  and  sustained  in  life  by  this  season- 
able encouragement  and  protection.  All  that  I  have  to  regret  is, 
that,  out  of  respect  to  others'  cold  caution,  and  from  fear  of  meddling 
with  a  subject  not  absolutely  my  own,  1  abstained  from  saying 
anything  on  the  situation  of  Sir  Sydney  Smith,  whose  case  seemed 
created  for  the  purpose  of  confounding  those  who,  being  wholly 
indifferent  about  him,  were  thus  anxious  for  the  fate  of  a  stranger, 
known  only  by  his  treason  to  his  own  sovereign. 

Wilberforce,  as  you  will  perceive,  appeared  in  his  full  lustre. 
What  a  state  is  a  country  in,  whose  treasures  are  to  be  guided 
by  such  counsellors  !  There  was  a  part,  that  I  meant  against  him 
and  such  Sitnulars  of  Virtue,  that  I  am  afraid  did  not  receive  its 
proper  application,  and  was  very  probably  not  repeated  in  the  papers. 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  217 

It  might  be  understood  of  some  higher  personages  than  he.  Upon 
the  whole,  this  speech,  though  nothing  in  itself,  has  done  knight's 
service,  by  counteracting  that  chapter  of  a  sentimental  novel,  for 
such  Fitzpatrick's  speech  was,  to  which  the  House  was  about  to 
sacrifice  its  character,  its  policy,  and  its  justice. 

By  accounts  received  today,  that  tyrant  ally,  against  whom  every 
presumption  is  to  be  admitted,  is  going  on  rendering  nearly  as  much 
service  to  mankind  as  Wilberforce  would  do  by  his  humanity  ;  and  in 
[?  is]  pushing  the  war  with  all  possible  vigour  and  success,  both  in 
Italy  and  on  the  side  of  Kehl.  I  enclose  you  the  official  report. 
There  is  at  least  the  hope  that  if  peace  must  be  made,  it  will  be  upon 
terms  so  disadvantageous  to  France,  as,  besides  diminishing  their 
means  and  their  authority,  will  put  people  so  much  out  of  conceit  of 
the  government,  as  to  facilitate  any  endeavours  that  may  be  made  to 
put  things  into  a  better  state. 

I  will  do  the  best  I  can  about  your  queries,  and  am  ever 

My  dear  sir,  most  faithfully  yours 

W.  Windham. 


Burke   to   Windham. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  404.) 


Beconsfield,  December  23,   1796. 
My  Dear  Friend, 

I  make  use  of  the  saturnalian  liberty  with  which  you 
have  indulged  your  Davus  at  the  close  of  this  December.  I  write 
with  the  hand  of  my  friend  and  kinsman  Nagle,  who  has  indeed 
been  very  helpful  to  me.  His  brother,  a  captain-lieutenant  in 
Mahony's  chasseurs,  whom  you  had  seen  at  the  Duke  of  York's 
head-quarters,  and  who,  we  conceived,  had  been  killed,  is  now 
reported  to  be  somewhere  alive  and  a  prisoner.  I  give  no  great 
credit  to  the  report,  because,  had  he  been  alive,  I  think  he  must 
B.-W.  c.  28 


2l8  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

have  found  some  way  of  letting  4113  friends  (though  he  might  be 
afraid  of  making  known  his  connexion  with  me)  have  some  inteUigence 
of  his  situation.  The  report  arises  from  a  letter  written  by  Count 
Mahony  himself  to  his  brother  in  Ireland,  the  very  day  before  the 
Count  was  killed.  I  never  heard  before  this  time  of  Colonel  Mahony 
having  been  killed,  and  therefore  the  date  of  the  letter  (of  which 
I  have  not  been  informed)  might  go  something  towards  clearing  the 
way  for  further  inquiry  into  the  fate  of  this  young  man. 

Perhaps  they  may  know  something  of  the  time  at  the  Duke  of 
York's  office,  or  at  my  Lord  Grenville's,  or  from  the  secretary  of 
Count  Starembergh'.  If  no  intelligence  can  be  had  here  (which 
I  think  the  most  likely),  could  you  prevail  upon  M'"  Canning  to 
write  to  Colonel  Crawford,  or  his  brother,  to  set  on  foot  an  inquiry 
on  this  subject  ?  for  I  shall  be  very  well  pleased  to  find  this  worthy 
creature,  in  whom  I  took  a  very  great  interest,  alive. 

I  have  been  looking  in  vain  for  a  curious  print,  which  I  had  in 
my  hand  yesterday.  It  is  concerning  the  imprisonment  of  La  Fayette. 
It  is  far  from  ill-executed.  It  was  torn  from  a  small  pocket-book, 
called  the  Minor s  Pocket-book  for  the  year  1797,  to  which  it  served 
as  a  frontispiece.  It  is  printed  for  Darton  and  Harvey,  Gracechurch- 
street ;  it  fronts  a  narrative,  said  to  be  taken  from  a  monthly 
magazine.  It  is,  as  you  will  see,  a  neat  abstract  of  General 
Fitzpatrick's  speech,  and  finds  nothing  about  Monsieur  de  la  Fayette 
worth  relating,  except  the  suffering  of  his  family  under  Robespierre  ; 
and  his  exile  in  consequence  of  an  attempt  to  save  the  life  of  Louis 
the  Sixteenth.  I  mention  this,  to  let  you  see  with  what  art  and 
system  this  business  is  worked  up,  and  that  the  sentimental  novel 
is,  in  reality,  a  political  contrivance,  that  has  some  more  meaning 
than  the  display  of  a  hypocritical  humanity.  Why  should  it  not  be 
a  pretty  subject  for  a  series  of  prints  like  the  "  Rake's  Progress,"  or 
the  "  Harlot's  Progress,"  to  give  the  Rebel's  Progress,  in  which  the 
heroic  exploits  and  various  fortunes  of  citizen  La  Fayette  might 
make  an  useful  moral  lesson  to  all  English  generals,  who  might  be 
inclined  to  imitate  at  home  what  they  so  greatly  admire  in  their 
friend  abroad  }     By  the   way,    I    totally  forgot  from  whom   it  was 

'  Imperial  Minister  in  London. 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  219 

I  heard  a  very  accurate  detail  of  the  attempt  made,  with  great 
regularity  and  well-combined  contrivance,  by  M*"  Church  and  others 
of  the  Fox  party  here,  to  effect  the  escape  of  that  suffering  hero 
from  Olmutz.  I  heard  the  name  of  the  physician  who  was  sent  to 
Vienna  for  the  purpose,  though  I  do  not  recollect  it'.  He  was  a 
young  physician  of  London,  and  insinuated  himself  so  well  into  the 
good  graces  of  some  persons  of  importance  in  the  imperial  court, 
that  when  Mons.  de  la  Fayette,  having  had  his  cue,  sent  to  Vienna 
to  request,  if  possible,  the  assistance  of  an  English  physician,  in 
whose  skill  alone  he  pretended  to  have  any  confidence,  this  emissary 
was  sent  to  him  without  any  difficulty.  The  governor  of  the  castle 
had  the  humanity  to  permit  La  Fayette,  upon  the  doctor's  represen- 
tation of  the  necessity  of  air  and  exercise  for  his  cure,  to  go  out  in 
an  open  chaise  with  him  for  several  days  together  ;  until,  all  things 
being  settled  for  the  escape,  two  horses  were  provided,  upon  one  of 
which  the  doctor  mounted,  and  gave  the  other,  with  cash  for  his 
journey,  to  the  prisoner.  The  doctor  got  clear  off;  but  the  other, 
falling  into  confusion  and  tumbling  from  blunder  into  blunder,  was 
discovered  and  carried  before  a  Magistrate,  who  delivered  him  over 
to  the  governor.  This  was  the  date  of  any  unusual  closeness  and 
rigour  in  his  confinement ;  and  was  the  cause,  as  I  take  it,  of  the 
precautions  that  are  taken  with  regard  to  the  entry  and  exit  of  all 
persons  who  may  visit  him  in  his  prison.  It  is  right,  of  course,  that 
persons  who  have  attempted  to  make  their  escape  should  be  guarded 
with  double  vigilance.  I  wish  you  would  ask  Laurence  whether  he 
recollects  from  whom  I  had  this  detailed  account,  and  the  name  of 
the  physician  who  was  the  principal  actor  in  the  business.  Nagle 
seems  to  think  he  has  read  some  short  account  of  it  in  a  newspaper  ; 
but  it  is  rather  extraordinary,  if  it  had  been  thus  published,  that 
Fitzpatrick  should  have  taken  no  notice  of  it,  either  to  refute  the 
story,  if  it  were  public  and  not  true,  or  to  repel  the  inferences  which 
would  arise,  in  order  to  diminish  the  effect  of  his  tragical  tale. 

I  think  that  the  substance  of  what  you  have  said,  relative  to  the 
humanity  of  politicians  of  the  first  or  second  order,  is  touched  in  the 

^  The  real  agents  in  La  Fayette's  unsuccessful  attempt  were  an  American,  Francis 
Kinloch  Huger,  and  a  German  physician,  Dr  BoUmann. 

28—2 


220  BURKE    TO    WINDHAM 

account  given  of  your  speech  in  the  Sun;  and  to  me,  the  application 
was  very  intelligible.     As  to  M'"  Pitt's  speech,  there  was  nothing  at 
all  in  it,  but  a  dry  point  of  law.      Nothing  was  said  but  what  might 
have  been  urged  if  the  case  had  been  that  of  the  most  innocent, 
virtuous  and   meritorious  sufferer  that   had    ever    experienced    the 
severity  of  fortune.       I   am  sure   that  the  faction  will    not    let    the 
matter  rest  here.      I  thank  you  for  the  bulletin  ;  but  on  considering 
the  whole  matter,    I   think  things  still  in  a  very  trembling  balance, 
and  the  final  result  of  the  campaign  still  very  doubtful.      It  is  plain 
that  the  Austrians  were  surprised  at  Kehl  ;  and  that  it  was  rather  an 
escape  than  a  victory.     For  God's  sake,  why  is  the  subsidy  (or  what- 
ever it  is)  to  the  Emperor  reduced  to  ^500,000,  when  the  King  of 
Prussia,  who  had  much  less  need  of  it,  and  did  much  less  for  it,  had 
fourteen  hundred  thousand  a  year,  not  as  a  loan,  but  as  a  subsidy  ? 
I  am  afraid  we  have  too  much  in  view  a  little  fallacious  economy, 
which  is,  in  war,  little  less  than  madness.      I  am  afraid,  too,  that  we 
conduct  war  upon  the  principles  of  favouritism,  and  that  we  feed  the 
objects   of  our  affections   at    the  expense   of  our    interests.      I    see 
nothing  said  of  a  provision  for  the  army  of  Conde,  which  has  stood 
the  brunt  of  the  war  upon  that  side.     The   death  of  the   Empress 
of  Russia  seems  to  be  a  sad  contretemps.     What  will  become  of  the 
French  enterprize  against  Portugal,  is  now  the  first  object  of  anxiety. 
One  sees  that  an  active  use  of  the  smallest  force  may  keep  in  check, 
and  possibly  baffle,  the  greatest  which  chooses  to  act  upon  the  mere 
defensive, — a  part  always  unsuitable  to  great  force.     Oh  !  how  open 
to  us  was  the  French  and  Spanish  force  at  Cadiz  ! — of  which  place,  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  we  knew  the  value — active  enterprize 
directed  against  an   enemy  in  his  weak  points.       That    expedition 
failed  from  causes  so  evident,  that  a  knowledge  of  them  might  have 
assured  against  a  second  failure.     The  defeat  of  that  expedition,  not 
abating  the  vigour  of  enterprize,  gave  us  the  glorious  success  at  this 
very  Vigo.      In   itself  this  event  was  great,  and  might   have   been 
improved  into  anything ;  but  as  long  as  the  war  is  conducted  on  its 
present  principles,    our  proceedings,   at   their  best,    can  only  baffle 
some  particular  design  of  an  enemy.     They  can  never  be  followed 
up  so   as  vitally  to  affect  him.      I   pray  to  God  for  the   success   of 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  221 

Admiral  Colpoys';  but  I  do  not  like,  after  having  expended  more 
on  the  navy  (perhaps  twice  as  much  as  in  any  former  war),  that  in 
the  two  most  essential  naval  ports  of  Europe  we  should  be  fairly 
out-numbered  by  them.  I  believe  that  this  Brest  fleet  is  contemptibly 
equipped  and  manned  ;  and  hardly  able  to  stand  an  engagement,  or 
even  the  sea  and  sky ;  but  as  to  this  latter,  they  have  the  advantage 
of  the  finest  and  most  opportune  ports  in  the  world  to  run  into  ;  so 
that,  if  they  should  miss  Vigo,  they  may  get  into  Ferrol  or  Corunna, 
where  they  may  join  the  Spanish  force  intended  against  Portugal, 
with  nearly  the  same  effect  as  from  Vigo  itself  Alas !  Europe,  for 
us,  hardly  opens  one  hospitable  port.     Adieu  ! 

Things  at  St  Domingo  seem  to  have  something  of  a  pleasanter 
aspect,  but  they  are  owing  rather  to  the  dissensions  of  the  barbarians 
themselves,  than  to  any  efforts  of  ours,  which  amount  to  no  more  than 
a  poor  and  uncertain  defence  of  a  line  too  long,  too  poorly  manned, 
to  be  of  any  real  strength.  I  should  have  great  satisfaction  however 
in  this  glimmering,  if  I  did  not  know,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  world, 
that  the  final  effect  of  our  success  or  defeat  will  be  nearly  the  same ; 
and  that  we  are  spilling  the  blood  of  those  planters  whom  we  had 
refused  to  protect,  until  they  had  become  our  subjects,  as  well  as  the 
best  blood  of  our  own,  and  of  the  royalists  of  Europe,  to  make  this  a 
more  savoury  morsel  for  the  regicides.  You  will  have  the  goodness 
to  excuse  this  letter,  made  up  of  the  wanderings  of  an  anxious  mind 
inhabiting  a  feeble  body ;  which  dictates  its  dreams,  whilst  it  is 
stretched  all  its  low  length  upon  the  couch  of  inaction. 

I  am  glad  to  find  that  poor  Woodford  seems,  to  himself  at  least, 
to  mend.  Poor  Lord  John  Cavendish,  who  very  kindly  came  to  see 
me  a  day  or  two  before  his  death,  is  gone  a  little  before  me.  The 
world  never  produced  a  more  upright  and  honourable  mind  ;  with 
very  considerable  talents,  and  a  still  more  considerable  improvement 
of  them.  He  retired  from  the  world  exceedingly  irritated  at  the 
triumph  of  his  enemies,  which  was  carried  pretty  high  against  him 
personally ;  and  somewhat  disgusted  with  the  coldness  of  his  friends, 

'  Rear-Admiral  John  Colpoys,  commanding  in  the  channel.  He  was  afterwards 
at  Spithead  and  St  Helen's  at  the  time  of  the  mutinies,  and  saved  the  life  of  his  first 
lieutenant  at  imminent  risk  of  his  own. 


222  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

who,  at  that  time,  showed  little  energy  of  mind,  and  considered  his 
retreat  with  too  much  indifference.  No  more  last  words  of  M''  Baxter, 
but  that  I  am  most  zealously  and  most  affectionately 

Yours,  &c.  &c. 

Edm.   Burke. 

P.S. — I  have  found  the  print  and  send  it  to  you  enclosed. 


Windham   to   Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  412.) 

December  24,   1796. 

My  Dear  Sir, 

I  cannot  refuse  myself  the  satisfaction  of  informing  you, 
that  the  news  that  you  will  see  in  the  papers  is  true,  and  that 
Lord  Malmesbury  is  about  to  spend  a  happy  Christmas  with  his 
friends  in  London  ;  having  received,  pour  toute  Hponse  to  his  terms, 
a  declaration  that  the  republic  could  enter  into  no  treaty  for  countries 
attached  by  the  constitution  to  France,  and  an  order  to  quit  France 
in  eight-and-forty  hours.  His  exit  will  be  as  splendid  as  his  entry. 
He  affords  a  brilliant  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the  ambassa- 
dors of  suppliant  kings  should  be  treated  by  a  high-minded  republic. 

So  should  desert  in  arms  be  crowned ! 
I  fear  however  this  new  humiliation  will  only  animate  us  to  [persevere] 
with  new  expedients  and  contrivances  of  meanness.  At  present,  to  be 
sure,  every  avenue  seems  to  be  shut.  We  must  go  on  with  the  war 
perforce.  But  I  much  doubt  whether  even  this  necessity,  and  the 
privation  of  all  other  means,  will  put  us  upon  making  any  use  of  the 
good  dispositions  of  the  interior.  I  have  much  to  say  to  you  upon 
that :  but  I  have  already  perhaps  said  more  than  I  ought,  considering 
how  ardently  I  ought  to  be  supposed  to  wish  for  peace,  even  with  the 
power  with  which  we  thought  it  necessary  that  every  country  ought 
to  be  at  war. 

Yours,  dear  sir,  in  great  haste 

W.  W. 


burke  to  windham  223 

Burke  to   Windham', 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   I2S-) 

Beaconsfield,  25  De(f,  1796. 
My  dear  Friend, 

I  received  your  kind  Letter.  The  return  of  Lord 
Malmsbury  is  just  in  all  its  circumstances  what  it  ought  to  be, 
and  indeed  just  what  might  be  expected.  This  Mongrel  has  been 
whipped  back  to  the  Kennel  yelping  and  with  his  Tail  between  his 
Legs.  This  will  be  a  great  triumph  of  Ministry,  of  Opposition,  and 
of  the  Nation  at  large.  The  Opposition  only  will  be  true  to  its 
principles.  Woeful  fidelity  and  consistency,  when  such  are  the 
principles.  The  rest  will  certainly  fail  on  the  tryal.  Indeed  they 
have  so  much  relyed  on  the  certainty  of  Peace,  and  have  provided, 
if  for  any  War,  only  a  War  at  Home,  that  I  do  not  see  how  they  can 
carry  on  any  other  with  energy  and  effect.  However,  anything  is 
better  than  a  Jacobin  Peace.  In  every  other  posture  of  things  there 
are  at  least  chances.  I  am  quite  sure  that  notwithstanding  all  that 
Lord  Malmsbury  has  suffered,  both  as  a  Negotiator  and  as  a 
Gentleman,  that  in  order  to  justify  himself  in  his  first  step,  kicked  in 
as  he  has  been  and  kicked  out,  He  will  still  in  the  House  of  Lords 
hold  out  some  sort  of  Hopes.  He  will  endeavour  to  keep  open  to 
himself  a  road  to  some  such  infamous  employment  in  future.  You 
know  better  than  I  do,  who  know  nothing  of  the  subject,  what  is  to 
be  done  with  the  Interiour  of  France,  but  of  this  I  am  sure,  if  nothing 
can  be  done  there,  nothing  can  be  done  with  effect  anywhere.  Un- 
fortunately we  have  disabled  ourselves  of  our  best  means,  by  sending 
the  French  Royalists  to  Portugal,  but  that  is  no  fault  of  yours,  who 
advized  that  measure  in  order  to  save  these  unhappy  Corps  from 
being  broke  as  Criminals  with  every  sort  of  disgrace,  or  sent  with 
equal  disgrace  and  with  every  sort  of  other  ill  consequence  to  the 
West  Indies.  God  Almighty  bless  you  and  support  you  in  the, 
endeavours  which  yet  you  will  make  use  of  for  the  salvation  of  your 
Country  and  of  betrayed  Europe.     For  two  Days  I  had  recovered 

'  In  Nagle's  hand. 


224  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

(except  in  my  flesh,  which  continues  under  a  uniform  decay)  to  my 
astonishment,  so  that  I  hoped  to  resume  my  task  with  vigour,  but 
last  Night  my  disorder  returned  on  me  with  violence,  and  to-Day  I 
am  as  ill  as  ever. 

By  the  way  is  it  quite  sure  that  the  French  squadron  and  force 
are  going  at  all  to  Portugal,  and  may  not  the  Brazils  be  their  object, 
or  something  in  America  or  the  West  Indies?  I  hope  your  Intelli- 
gence is  good.  Once  more,  adieu.  The  cordial  wishes  of  this 
Season  from  all  this  House  to  you  and  the  accomplished  Ladies 
of  your  Family,  of  whose  partiality  for  us  we  are  more  proud  than 
that  of  a  whole  Academy  of  Letters. 

Ever  most  devotedly  yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BURKE'S   LAST   DAYS.         THE   NAVAL   MUTINY. 

On  17  Dec.  1796,  five  days  before  Lord  Malmesbury's  dismissal 
from  Paris,  the  French  fleet  of  forty-four  ships  had  left  Brest, 
carrying  Hoche  and  his  army  of  18,000  men  on  their  way  to  Ireland. 
The  story  of  their  complete  defeat  by  the  weather,  with  slight  aid 
from  the  British  Navy,  cannot  be  told  here.  Thirteen  ships  were 
lost  (six  by  capture)  and  the  last  of  those  which  survived  returned  to 
a  French  port  on  14  Jan.  February,  notable  in  naval  annals  for 
the  victory  off  Cape  St  Vincent,  was  marked  also  by  the  mistaken 
treatment  accorded  by  the  Admiralty  authorities  to  a  petition  sent 
in  to  Lord  Howe  by  the  seamen  of  the  fleet  for  an  advance  of  pay. 
They  seem  to  have  regarded  it  as  the  work  of  an  external  organisation, 
in  which  they  may  have  been  right,  and  as  not  representing  any 
real  widespread  feeling  among  the  men,  in  which  they  were  certainly 
wrong ;  and  no  notice  was  therefore  taken  of  it.  The  consequence 
was  seen  on  15  April,  when  the  new  commander  of  the  Channel 
Fleet  at  Spithead  gave  orders  to  prepare  for  sea  and  the  men  refused. 
Two  days  later  a  committee  of  delegates  drew  up  petitions  to  the 
Admiralty  and  to  Parliament. 

Burke  to  Windham \ 

(Add.  MS.  37843.  f-  1 27-) 

Jan.  5,   1797. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  had  two  very  bad  days  ;  this  last  the  worst.  So 
that  I  cou'd  not  work  much  even  if  I  had  the  materials.  This 
difficulty  at  the  Excise  Ofi^ce  I  wish  I  had  foreseen  ;  because  while 

'  Not  in  Burke's  hand. 

29 


B.-W.  C. 


226  BURKE    TO   WINDHAM 

Parliament  was  sitting  any  Member  might  have  moved  for  those 
accounts.  I  never  knew  them  refused.  I  should  have  no  difficulty 
of  writing  to  M''  Long'  myself  upon  the  Subject,  but  I  do  not  wish 
to  have  my  Scheme  blown  upon,  and  I  know  there  is  such  a 
connection  between  the  Public  Offices  and  the  News-Papers,  that 
they  would  have  the  accounts  full  as  early  as  I  should.  It  is  a  vile 
thing  to  see  this  communication  constantly  kept  open,  and  as 
constantly  disowned.  The  use  that  I  intend  to  make  of  these 
accounts,  if  they  come  up  to  my  Ideas,  as  I  think  they  will,  is  to 
finish  my  demonstration :  That  no  class  of  the  People  hath  as  yet 
felt  the  War  in  any  sort  of  Privation.  I  am  infinitely  rejoiced  to 
hear  that  poor  Woodford  goes  on  with  good  appearances. 

If  Ireland  was  the  Object  of  the  Brest  Armament  (and  it  now 
looks  not  improbable),  what  handsome  provision  has  been  made 
for  its  defence !  No  Depot  of  Force  in  any  Central  point.  No 
preconcerted  arrangement.  Agamemnon"  General  in  the  South 
with  Cooks  for  his  Aid  de  Camps  ;  and  so  corpulent,  that  I  am 
told  he  cannot  go  on  Horseback  :  had  Hoche  landed  in  Bantry  Bay, 
or  in  any  Bay  more  commodious  for  his  purposes,  as  many  there  are 
on  that  coast,  nothing  could  have  hindered  him  from  making  himself 
master  of  Cork ;  of  putting  that  pi  ice  under  Contribution  of  Money 
and  provisions,  and  having  routed  the  weak  force  in  that  part,  from 
Marching  forward  and  beating  all  the  rest  in  detail.  The  apparent 
want  of  intelligence  of  the  Enemy's  design  was  truly  deplorable  ; 
but  if  intelligence  was  received  and  credited,  that  the  Enemy's 
design  pointed  at  Ireland,  in  the  name  of  God,  how  did  it 
happen  that  no  Fleet  was  off  Ireland,  to  oppose  the  Enemy  on  his 
approach,  or,  on  failure,  to  intercept  him  on  his  return  ?  While  the 
Jacobin  Fleet  was  at  Anchor  in  Bantry  Bay,  Lord  Bridport  was  at 
Portsmouth,  and  Colpoys,  after  going  God  knows  where,  returns 
himself  into  harbour.  The  French  leave  Bantry  on  the  27"*  of 
Dec'',  and  Lord  Bridport  sails  from  Portsmouth  to  look  for  them  on 
the  f^  of  this  month  ;  if  he  meets  any  of  them  it  is  a  miracle,  and  it 

^  Charles  Long,  afterwards  Baron  Farnborough,  Joint  Secretary  to  the  Treasury. 
The  statistics  were  wanted  for  the  T/iird  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace. 
^  ?  General  William  Dalrymple. 


BURKE    TO    WINDHAM  227 

must  be  owing  to  the  terrible  condition  which  they  are  in.     So  much 
for  Intelligence,  Foresight  and  Precaution. 

For  my  own  part,  I  never  believed  that  the  French  could  have 
thought  oi  Ireland,  equipped  as  they  were  in  such  a  Tempestuous 
Season  ;  because  I  could  have  no  intelligence,  and  only  grounded 
myself  upon  conjecture  of  what  it  would  have  been  rational  for  them 
to  do.  I  therefore  concluded  that  they  would  get  into  the  Ocean 
as  soon  and  as  deep  as  they  could,  and  make  their  way  for  Nova 
Scotia,  an  Object  infinitely  important  for  them  to  possess.  The 
Season  of  the  Year  is  I  know  adverse  also  for  this  ;  but  nothing  cou'd 
be  worse  for  them  than  the  Coast  of  Ireland,  where  they  cou'd  not 
remain  long  without  being  a  Prey  to  the  English  Naval  force,  let 
their  successes  on  Land  be  what  they  wou'd.  But  the  fate  of  that 
expidition  (szc)  is,  I  trust,  now  decided  by  an  Arm  stronger  than  ours, 
and  by  a  Wisdom  capable  of  counteracting  our  Folly. — Yet,  my  dear 
Friend,  I  do  tremble,  lest  the  boldness  of  these  men  in  risquing  every 
thing,  and  our  Negligence  or  Misfortune  in  not  providing  for  any 
thing,  may  not  always  find  the  Heavens  so  propitious.  I  confess 
I  tremble  at  the  danger,  whilst  I  am  rejoicing  in  the  escape.  How- 
ever I  sincerely  congratulate  you  upon  it.  I  consider  you  so  much 
as  a  Friend,  to  whom  I  am  used  to  disburthen  myself,  that  I  forget 
I  am  writing  to  a  Minister,  with  whom  I  ought  to  have  managements 
when  I  discuss  anything  relative  to  the  conduct  of  his  Colleagues. 
The  want  of  a  steady  intelligence  both  from  Paris  and  from  Brest  is 
a  thing  I  cannot  comprehend ;  because  I  am  sure  it  might  have 
been  obtained.  God  bless  you.  I  am  very  faint,  and  perhaps 
peevish,  but  ever  most  truly  yours 

E.  B. 


29- 


228  windham  to  burke 

Windham  to  Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  424.) 

Park  St.,  Westminster,  Jan.  17,  1797. 
My  Dear  Sir, 

What  I  have  understood  of  the  state  of  your  health  for 

some  time  past,  and  still  more  what   I  understand  at  this  moment, 

must  supersede  all  that  unwillingness  to  obtrude    my  advice  upon 

you,  that  has  often  restrained  me,  and  make  me  urge  my  entreaties 

and  remonstrances  with  a  degree  of  earnestness  that  I  have  never 

hitherto  allowed  myself,  but  which  the  importance  and  urgency  of 

the  case  will  no  longer  suffer  me  to  forbear. 

You  must  really,  my  dear  sir,  come  fairly  to  the  point  of  deciding, 
in  the  first  instance,  whether  you  tvish  to  recover.  If  life  is  really 
become  so  insipid  or  painful  that  you  are  really  impatient  for  the 
scene  to  close,  and  if  you  can  reconcile  that  wish  with  the  interest 
you  feel  in  the  happiness  of  some  of  those  whom  you  will  leave 
behind,  or  with  the  conviction  which  you  cannot  fail  to  entertain, 
that  your  life  is  at  this  moment  of  more  consequence  than  that, 
probably,  of  any  other  man  now  living,  or  than  it  has  been  at  any 
preceding  period  (suppositions  which  I  merely  make  for  the  sake  of 
form,  and  without  a  suspicion  that  they  can  all  of  them  be  true),  then, 
indeed,  there  is  no  room  for  further  discussion.  It  is  in  vain  to  urge 
a  resort  to  such  means  as  human  precaution  and  prudence  may  point 
out,  if  the  end  which  they  are  to  obtain  is  not  wished. 

But  if  such  is  not  the  case  ;  if  duty,  though  not  inclination,  must 
enjoin  to  you  the  preservation  of  a  life  which  cannot  cease  but  to  the 
infinite  affliction  of  those  whose  happiness  is  most  dear  to  you,  and 
with  a  loss  to  the  world  such  as  it  could  never  have  produced,  or 
been  known  at  least  to  produce,  at  any  other  period,  then  surely  you 
will  not  have  acted  up  to  your  own  ideas,  or  to  the  expectations 
which  others  would  have  reason  to  form  of  you,  if  you  persist  in 
resisting  those  means,  uncertain  as  they  may  be,  which  in  the  judg- 
ment of  any  persons  tolerably  skilled  may  afford  you  any  means  of 
relief.  Such  means  have  certainly  not  been  wanting  ;  nor,  should 
the  first  fail,  were  others  to  be  despaired  of,  had  there  been  a  fair 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  229 

disposition  to  go  in  search  of  them.  But  in  fact  the  first  had  not 
failed.  Bath,  which  every  one  had  agreed  to  recommend — Bath,  the 
most  simple  and  ready  and  easily  resorted  to — Bath  had  been  tried 
and  succeeded  on  the  trial  to  the  full  extent  that  had  been  hoped. 
Can  you,  my  dear  sir,  justify  it  to  yourself,  can  you  justify  it  to  your 
friends  and  those  most  dear  to  you,  that  you  have  suffered  yourself 
to  be  diverted  by  a  repugnance  founded  on  nothing  but  a  dislike  of 
what  you  call  going  into  public,  to  defer  a  repetition  of  that  remedy, 
till  your  disorder  has  now  gained  such  ground,  that  no  one  certainly 
can  pretend  to  rely  with  equal  confidence  on  the  power  of  Bath 
water  to  stop  it  ? 

At  all  events  let  that,  or  whatever  else  may  be  thought  preferable, 
be  tried  without  delay.  I  beg  only  and  claim,  in  the  name  of  myself 
and  of  those  whose  claim  must  necessarily  be  far  stronger,  that  you 
will  take  without  an  instant's  delay  the  best  advice,  and  follow 
implicitly  what  that  advice  shall  recommend.  For  this  purpose,  if 
you  will  not  consent  to  come  up  to  town,  I  shall  set  off  on  Thursday, 
(the  Birth-day  must  prevent  my  going  tomorrow,)  and  if  you  do  not 
forbid  it,  endeavour  to  bring  down  D""  Blane\  in  whom  I  feel  a 
considerable  confidence,  with  me.  Should  he  be  of  opinion  with  the 
rest,  then  Bath  is  that  which  promises  best.  I  shall  be  ready,  putting 
off  an  excursion,  that  I  had  some  slight  thoughts  of,  into  Norfolk, 
but  to  which  however  there  were  several  objections,  to  accompany 
you  thither  as  soon  as  you  please,  and  to  stay  with  you  till  the 
meeting  of  parliament.  I  shall  endeavour  also,  before  I  come,  to 
see  D''  Warren. 

My  dear  Sir,  though  I  hope  and  trust  that  your  last  decay  of 
flesh  and  strength  is  no  more  than  that  which  you  experienced 
previously  to  your  going  to  Bath  first,  and  may  be  recovered  by  the 
same  means,  I  should  certainly  never  think  it  necessary  in  talking  to 
you  to  dissemble  any  part  of  my  apprehensions.  It  is  on  the 
contrary  in  consequence  of  those  apprehensions  that  I  am  thus 
urgent,  and  thus  solemnly  adjure  you,  that  you  would  suffer  no  time 
to  be  lost. 

'  Gilbert  Blane,  physician  to  George  IV,  both  as  Prince  of  Wales  and  as  King  ; 
created  a  baronet  in  181 2. 


230  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

My  fear  of  being  too  late  for  the  post  obliges  me  to  close  this 
without  saying  more  ;  nor  do  I  know  indeed  what  more  could  be 
said.  The  reason  of  the  case  lies  in  a  very  small  compass.  That 
I  have  said  so  much  is  the  result  only  of  that  earnest  affection 
with  which 

I  am,  my  dear  sir, 

Most  faithfully  and  anxiously  yours 

Wm.    Windham. 


Windham   to  Addington. 

(Add.  MS.  37876,  f.  298.) 

Bath,  Fetf  6'\   1797. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  had  actually  written  a  letter  to  you,  proposing,  in  case 
of  your  being  at  home  and  disengaged,  to  have  the  pleasure  of 
dining  with  you ;  but  the  fear  of  being  detain'd  in  London  by 
some  unforeseen  accident  made  me  forbear  to  send  it,  and  unwilling- 
ness afterwards  to  call  upon  you  on  a  sudden,  so  late  in  the  day 
as  the  time  at  which  I  found  myself  opposite  to  Woodley,  made  me 
"  turn  the  unwilling  steeds  another  way,"  and  resign  an  opportunity 
w'^''  I  had  much  counted  upon,  and  w'^^  I  fear  it  will  be  difficult 
to  replace  in  my  return  to  London. 

M'"  Burke,  to  whom  I  shall  deliver  your  obliging  message,  is 
as  well  as  I  had  any  reason  to  expect,  and  so  far  better  that  his 
Physician  does  not  appear  to  think  so  ill  of  him  as  most  of  those 
whom  he  had  consulted,  or  who  had  been  consulted  about  him  in 
London.  It  is  however  a  very  ambiguous  and  a  very  doubtful  case, 
and  cannot  fail  to  cause  much  anxiety  to  all  who,  like  yourself,  feel 
the  respect  due  to  his  virtues  and  talents,  and  the  value  of  his  life  at 
a  crisis  of  human  affairs  such  as  the  present. 

This  crisis,  by  the  last  dreadful  ace''**,  becomes  more  and  more 
alarming.  It  is  plain  that  as  long  as  the  enemy  can  go  on,  they  will 
never  abandon  their  schemes  of  Universal  Empire,  and,  as  part  of 
that  scheme,  their  views  for  the  destruction  of  this  Country.       If  the 


WINDHAM    TO    ADDINGTON  23 1 

Republick  subsists,  this  Country  must  in  my  opinion  be  ultimately 
destroy'd.  The  existence  of  a  Republick  in  France  on  the  principles 
on  w'^'^  this  has  been  establish'd,  and  will  continue  to  act,  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  compatible  with  the  continuance  of  Monarchies  in 
countries  adjoining ;  but  they  wish  the  destruction  of  this  country 
beyond  that  of  all  others,  and  upon  motives  that  apply  to  every 
feeling  of  their  minds,  old  or  new.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  impossible 
that  peace  may  be  made  with  the  Republick,  and  yet  this  country 
not  be  undone,  because  peace  and  the  continuance  of  the  Republick 
may  not  be  the  same  thing.  It  is  the  final  compatibility  of  the  two, 
that  is  of  a  Republick  in  France  and  Monarchy  here,  that  seems  to 
me  so  impossible. 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  opinion,  supposing  the 
opinion  itself  to  be  admitted,  may  be  disputable.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  prospect  of  destroying  the  Republick  by  War  is  less  than  of 
its  falling  to  pieces  of  itself  in  peace  ;  or  that  at  all  events  our  own 
chance  of  preservation  by  peace  is  better  than  by  attempting  longer 
to  maintain  the  War.  My  opinions  are  not  yet  alter'd  upon  that 
Subject,  even  if  peace  on  the  best  terms  on  which  we  have  ever 
hoped  to  have  it  were  in  our  power ;  but  in  fact  all  discussion  seems 
likely  to  be  spared  upon  that  point,  for  the  enemy  will  not  give  us 
peace.  It  is  a  Bellunt  Inter\ne\cinum,  whether  we  will  or  no; 
and  as  it  now  appears  (as  it  might  have  done  always)  that  a  fleet 
cannot  protect  us  against  Invasion,  and  as  the  Rampart  formerly 
establish'd  for  our  protection  in  the  Royalist  armies  is  now  levelled 
with  the  ground,  they  will  transfer  this  war,  whenever  a  separate 
peace  with  the  Emperor  or  great  success  against  his  armies  shall 
leave  them  at  liberty,  to  be  carried  on  upon  our  own  shores.  Fatal 
would  seem  to  be  that  error,  which  supposed  that  there  could  be  any 
compromise  with  this  power,  and  that  we  could  at  any  time  purchase 
a  peace  by  the  sacrifice  of  part  of  our  possessions  ;  in  this  hope 
we  pursued  conquests  with  the  sacrifice  of  our  army  ;  but  the 
conquests,  so  far  as  they  were  made,  having  fail'd  to  effect  the 
purpose  intended  by  them,  we  now  find  ourselves  in  the  deplorable 
state  of  being  obliged  to  fight  after  our  Weapons  are  gone.  The 
War  continues  but  we  have  no  longer  an  Army. 


232  WINDHAM   TO   ADDINGTON 

If  all  this  would  animate  us  to  right  sentiments  and  inspire 
us  with  what  I  cannot  but  think  right  opinions  ;  if  it  would  be 
the  means  of  putting  the  war  upon  its  proper  footing,  and  make 
us  join  hand  and  heart  in  co-operating  with  those  of  the  Interior 
of  France  to  overturn  this  System  ;  then  indeed  I  should  think 
that  good  might  grow  out  of  this  evil  ;  but  as  I  have  no  such 
expectation  I  can  only  view  the  present  state  of  things  with  very 
despondent  feelings  and  yield  myself  up  with  a  sort  of  blind 
insensibility  to  the  fate  that  seems  to  await  us. 

Yours,  dear  Sir,  very  truly, 

W.    Windham. 


Windham  to  Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  427.) 

February  11,   1797. 

My  Dear  Sir 

I  write  this  from  Reading,  where  I  arrived  in  time  to 
have  proceeded  to  the  Speaker's,  from  whom  I  have  found  a  note, 
offering  me  a  bed,  and  informing  me  that  I  should  probably  meet 
M'  Pitt  there.  I  feel  however  more  disposed  at  present  to  remain 
where  I  am  ;  and  I  should  besides  have  lost  the  opportunity  of 
shooting  back  this  Parthian  arrow  at  you.  I  shall  join  them  in  the 
morning,  and  try  my  hand,  but  with  little  prospect  of  the  effect 
it  will  produce,  to  raise  our  counsels  to  some  nobler  pitch  than  any 
they  have  flown  to  hitherto.  We  soar  no  Pindaric  heights  ;  and 
I  am  afraid  are  now  likely  to  sink  lower  and  lower,  and  never  to  rise 
again  in  the  face  of  this  Gallic  falcon. 

My  hopes  are  in  you  and  General  Hoche.  The  recipes  are 
rather  of  an  opposite  nature,  but  may  conspire  to  the  same  end.  To 
realize  one  part  of  them,  as  well  as  for  every  reason,  public  and 
private,  let  me  entreat  you,  my  dear  sir,  to  avail  yourself  of  whatever 
skill  and  prudence  can  do  for  your  recovery,  and  as  a  main  article 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  233 

of  that  prudence  at  present,  to  put  yourself  fairly  in  the  hands  of 
D''  Parry  \ 

With  best  respects  to  M''*  B.  and  compliments  to  all  who  are 
with  you, 

I  am,  my  dear  sir, 

Your  most  faithful  and  affectionate  humble  servant 

W.  Windham. 


Burke  to  WindhamI 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   I35-) 

B.ATH,   12  Feb^  [1797]- 

My  dear  Friend 

How  can  I  find  thanks  any  way  proportioned  to  your 
unwearied  kindness  ?  I  must  be  silent  and  restrain  my  bursts  of 
gratitude,  as  you  desire  me  to  restrain  the  bursts  of  my  stomach. 
In  the  latter  I  will  do  what  I  can.  I  received  your  Letter  when 
I  was  half  the  channel  over  in  M''  Erskine's  Pamphlet^,  which  would 
have  landed  me  safely  in  a  good  harbour  of  the  Republick  one  and 
indivisible,  and  that  too,  as  M''  Erskine  says,  upon  my  own  principles. 
The  Pamphlet  is  better  written  and  less  full  of  Vanity  than  I  expected 
to  find  it ;  but  it  is  the  old  matter  new  hashed  up.  France  would 
have  been  very  good  if  she  had  not  been  provoked  by  the  wickedness 
of  Great  Britain  and  other  powers,  who  are  confederates  not  against 
her  Ambition  but  against  her  Liberty.  That  she  was  right  in  every 
point  and  at  all  times  and  with  all  Nations.  That  the  cure  for  all 
disorders  consists  in  your  making  your  Representation  at  home  as 
like  hers  as  possible — in  making  Peace  with  her  by  giving  her  all 
that  you  offer  and  all  that  she  demands.  That  by  excluding  her  from 
all  the  Continental  powers  she  will  become  well  disposed  to  you  ; 
and  that  you  and  she  will  become  Guardians  of  Liberty  throughout 

'  Charles  Henry  Parry,  a  well-known  Bath  physician. 
'  Not  in  Burke's  hand. 

*  A  View  of  the  Causes  and  Consequences  of  the  present   War  with  France,  by 
Thomas  Erskine,  afterwards  Lord  Erskine. 

B.-W.  C.  30 


234  BURKE   TO    WINDHAM 

the  world.  And  as  for  our  safety,  it  will  be  perfect,  provided  we  do 
nothing  to  provoke  that  irresistible  power.  And  lastly,  in  which  alone 
I  think  with  him,  that  for  making  such  a  peace  it  is  proper  that 
M"^  Fox  and  his  friends  should  come  into  power.  I  think  this  is 
a  just  Analisys'  of  M''  Erskine's  Pamphlet,  which  he  says  he  has 
formed  on  my  opinions,  not  with  relation  to  France  but  with  relation 
to  America.  I  am  to  observe,  once  for  all,  that  these  Gentlemen 
put  the  case  of  France  and  America  exactly  upon  a  Par,  and  always 
have  done  so.  I  leave  them  to  rejoice  in  that  discovery,  and  in  my 
inconsistency,  and  the  antidote  they  have  found  in  one  part  of  my 
writings  against  the  poison  that  exists  in  another.  You  will  observe 
that  their  alliance  with  France  and  a  change  in  this  Constitution  are 
things  that  always  go  hand  in  hand,  and  I  think  consistently  enough. 
The  only  point  upon  which  he  is  strong,  but  on  which  I  don't  think 
he  makes  the  most,  is  M^"  Pitt's  having  refused  to  make  proffers  of 
Peace  whilst  our  affairs  were  in  a  prosperous  condition,  when  [alone  i*] 
he  allows  that  any  Peace  at  all  can  be  made  with  the  Regicide 
powers  that  is  likely  to  be  safe  and  lasting.  But  M*"  Pitt  un- 
fortunately is  in  the  condition  of  "Paulo  purgante;" — He  cannot 
make  Peace  and  he  will  not  make  War.  "  Deus  dabit  his  quoque 
finem,"  which  I  believe  I  will  not  live  to  see.  I  wish  [I]  may  live  to 
make  my  final  protest  against  the  proceedings  of  both  factions.  God 
bless  you,  and  preserve  you  to  better  times,  for  which  bettering  of 
the  times  your  preservation  may  be  very  essential.  I  continue  just 
as  I  was,  with  the  difference  of  a  bad  Night.  Doctor  Parry  has  just 
given  me  a  purgative  medicine,  and  I  assure  you  I  implicitly  obey 
his  directions.  I  cannot  yet  walk  or  stand  firm,  but  I  can  read  upon 
my  back  and  dictate,  as  I  do  now,  whilst  all  the  great  hunters  are 
driving  their  spears  into  a  dead  Boar.  Once  more  God  bless  you, 
and  for  the  few  moments  I  have  to  live,  believe  me  devotedly 

Yours 

Edm.  Burke. 


'  The  spelling  is  that  of  the  amanuensis. 


windham  to  burke  235 

Windham  to  Burke. 

(Burke  Corn  iv.  429.) 

Friday,  six  o'clock,  Feb.  17,  i797- 
My  Dear  Sir, 

You  may  imagine  what  our  anxiety  is,  when  your  fate 
almost  may  hang  upon  the  report  which  each  day  may  bring. 
D'-  Parry's  opinion  has  every  air  of  being  right.  God  grant  that 
your  strength  may  hold  out,  so  as  to  give  a  fair  chance  to  the 
course  he  is  pursuing. 

In  such  a  state  of  uncertainty  about  what  is  so  infinitely  precious, 
one  has  no  heart  to  talk  much  about  other  things  j  I  should  otherwise 
like  to  tell  you  that  the  paper  which  villainy  has  thus  brought  out'  is 
received  in  a  manner  which  could  leave  you  nothing  to  regret,  but 
the  havoc  it  is  making  with  the  character  and  credit  of  M''  Fox. 
One  hardly  knows  what  to  wish  upon  that  subject ;  but  with  respect 
to  you,  nothing  can  be  more  satisfactory.  M^'  Pitt,  with  whom  I  first 
saw  it,  when  we  met  at  the  Speaker's,  was  not  only  highly  gratified 
with  it  (more  perhaps  than  one  would  wish  him  to  be),  but  thought 
it  a  model  of  the  sort  of  style  in  which  it  was  written  ;  and  which  by 
the  way,  when  it  suits  the  subject,  is  more  forcible  than  any  other, 
and  always  accords  more  with  the  general  taste. 

Another  satisfactory  circumstance,  which  I  should  like  to  dilate 
to  you,  in  the  midst  of  an  ocean  of  calamitj-,  is  the  manner  in  which 
the  fatal  reverses  in  Italy  have  been  received  at  Vienna.  No 
despondency,  no  change  or  relaxation  of  purpose  ;  a  determination 
to  pursue  the  war  to  the  last  extremity. 

The  secretary  of  Sir  Charles  Whitworth  too,  who  is  come  over 
from  Petersburgh,  gives  hopes  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  But 
of  that,  when  you  hear  that  he  is  an  illuming,  your  hopes,  any 
more  than  mine  (notwithstanding  many  favourable  circumstances), 

will  not  be  sanguine. 

Ever,  my  dear  sir,  most  faithfully  yours 

W.  Windham. 

>  A  private  letter  of  Burke's  to  Portland  in  1793,  published  in  1797  by  an  un- 
authorised person  under  the  title  of  Kfty-four  Articles  of  Impeachment  against  the 
Right  Hon.  C.  /.  Fox.  It  is  printed,  with  its  proper  title.  Observations  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  Minority,  etc.,  in  the  Works  (ed.  1852,  vol.  v.  p.  68).  ^ 


236  lady  spencer  to  windham 

Lady  Spencer  to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37845,  f.  I55-) 

Wimbledon,  April  20"":  '97. 
My  dear  Mr  Windham, 

Lord  Spencer  in  a  note  I  have  just  rec*^  bids  me  tell  you 

that  to  his  heart  he  feels  your  friendship  and  affection  in  the  offer 

you  have  made  to  him  of  going  to   Ports'*'  to  share  with  him  the 

difficulties  of  the  sad,  sad  situation  he  is  involved  in  at  that  alarming 

post.     So  hurried  is  he,  that  he  has  not  a  moment  to  express  to  you 

the  thanks  he  owes  you,  but  has  desired  me  to  convey  them  to  you. 

He  thinks  you  need   not  distress  yourself  by  coming  to  him  and 

being  a  witness  to  the  terrifying  scene  now  passing  under  his  eyes — 

for  that  you  cou'd  do  no  good  as  to  the  quieting  the  men,  and  that 

as  to  himself  he   is   so   taken   up  by  business,   that  he  knows  not 

if  a  moment  cou'd  be  passed  in  so  pleasant  a  way,  as  it  wou'd  be 

were  you  to  go  to  him. — Alas !  my  dear  Sir,  we  none  of  us  know  the 

end  of  this  most  awful  affair.      Lord  S.  writes  in  very  low  spirits 

but  "  Hope  travels  through,  nor  leaves  us  till  the  last "  as  he  says — 

and  let  us  hold  her  fast  while  we  may.      Dundas,  whom  I  have  just 

seen,  seems  full  as  serious  on  the  business  as  I  am,  and  truly  there  is 

food  for  thought  in  the  present  prospect  of  things.     The  quietness 

of  the  men,  tho'  comfortable  in  some  respects,  yet  in  others  is  most 

alarming — it  proves  a  steadiness  in  them  to  accomplish  their  object, 

which  overpowers  me,  whatever  it  may  do  other  people.     They  at 

first  agreed  to  be  satisfied  with  L**  Sp.'s  concessions,  but  then  got  off 

again  by  insisting  on  including  the  Marines — a  most  artful  subterfuge! 

By  making  this  hitherto  useful  body  of  men  a  party  in  their  demands 

they  ensure  their  concurrence  in  all  of  them.     Thus  situated,  what 

can  be  done  to  reduce  this  rebellious  Spirit,  I  can  not  foresee.     Of 

course  their  demands  have  gone  on  increasing,   and  Lord  S.  tells 

Dundas  he  can  grant  no  more  than  he  has  done  already,  as  he  710110 

feels  responsible  for  more  than  he  shall  feel  comfortable  under  untill 

he  is  sanctioned  by  Parliament.     That  a  Mutiny  of  this  extent  shou'd 

'  Endorsed,  Received,  Bath,  22°<'. 


LADY  SPENCER  TO  WINDHAM  237 

have  been  brewing  for  3  months,  and  not  one  word  of  it  to  have 
transpired,  is  most  wonderful.  Surely,  surely  it  implies  a  strange 
want  of  knowledge  amongst  the  Officers. — Sir  And.  Douglas's  illness 
has  been  the  cause  of  the  whole  I  do  believe.  An  Acting  Captain 
was  put  into  the  O.  Charlotte  in  the  meanwhile,  and  they  never  have 
the  influence,  or  the  wish  to  act,  as  the  real  Captain  wou'd  do  in 
cases  of  this  sort.  Then  the  Queen's  is  a  most  dreadful  crew, 
owing  to  the  childish  fondness  for  his  men  of  Sir  Allan  Gard[ner]. — 
He  excuses  faults  no  other  man  wou'd  do,  from  a  culpable  wish  not 
to  do  harm  to  any  one  belonging  to  him  or  his  ship — foolish  man  ! 
And  then  the  Q.  Charlotte  was  Lord  Howe's  Ship  ! — I  dare  say  no 
more  even  to  you — but  indeed  Benevolence  is  a  hard  virtue  to 
practice  now-a-days.  I  know  not  if  you  will  understand  me  or  my 
letter  but  I  am  just  now  a  good  deal  agitated,  and  unfit  to  write 
coherently. — God  alone  is  to  be  looked  to  as  our  refuge.  May  He 
in  his  Mercy,  and  for  his  blessed  Son's  sake,  give  us  help  and 
assistance.  Alas !  we  pray  to  Him  in  our  adversities — do  we 
acknowledge  him  sufficiently  in  our  prosperities  ?  My  dear  M""  W. 
Mon  cceur  est  sur  nies  levres  when  I  write  or  speak  to  you,  and 
you  are  good  enough  to  excuse  one — but  I  only  write  to  you. 
Adieu. 


The  committee  over  which  Spencer  presided  sat  at  Portsmouth 
from  the  i8th  to  the  23rd  and  agreed  to  recommend  to  Parliament 
what  was  practically  a  concession  of  the  men's  terms,  and  were  able 
also  to  promise  a  pardon  to  the  mutineers.  The  men  returned  to 
duty,  but  still  with  some  misgivings  as  to  the  sincerity  of  the 
promises ;  and  the  mutiny  broke  out  again  at  St  Helen's  on 
7  May,  only  to  be  pacified  by  the  arrival  of  Lord  Howe,  with  an 
Act  of  Parliament  for  the  increased  wages  and  a  proclamation  of  the 
King's  pardon,  on  the  14th. 


238  windham  to  burke 

Windham   to   Burke. 

(Burke  Corr.  iv.  439.) 

FuLHAM,  Apr.  25,   1797. 

My  dear  Sir 

I  cannot  help  troubling  you  with  a  few  lines  to  enforce 
the  purpose  which  you  appeared  to  have  formed  when  I  left  you, — 
of  putting  out  a  short  letter  on  the  measures  necessary  to  be  taken 
for  the  immediate  safety  of  the  country ;  or,  at  least,  with  a  view  to 
anything  like  a  successful  termination  of  the  war.  The  danger  is 
coming  thundering  upon  us,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  perceive,  will  find  us 
miserably  unprepared,  in  means  as  well  as  in  spirit,  for  such  a  crisis 
as  it  is  likely  to  bring  with  it.  When  the  fund  of  submission  fails 
us,  we  have  no  other ;  and  it  seems  that,  liberally  as  we  are  disposed 
to  draw  upon  that  resource,  there  is  not  much  more  that'  it  can  yield 
us.  Though  the  East  Indies  should  follow  the  West,  though  Ceylon 
and  the  Cape  should  go  the  same  road  as  Martinico,  St  Domingo, 
and  all  the  splendid  possessions  that  we  have  purchased  at  the 
expense  of  the  forces  by  which  they  were  to  be  retained,  yet  it  is  not 
clear  that  the  enemy  will  vouchsafe  us  peace  ;  and  still  less  clear  is 
it,  that  the  country  could  survive  such  a  peace  three  years. 

In  this  state  it  seems  impossible,  at  least  it  is  not  to  be  wished, 
that  the  country  should  go  on  long  without  some  great  struggle, — 
a  struggle  to  throw  off  this  load  of  peccant  matter  that  oppresses  it, 
and  to  set  the  vital  powers  free,  if  they  yet  retain  sufficient  force  and 
spring  to  recover  us  from  the  state  of  debility  to  which  we  are 
reduced.  The  idea  of  a  country  perishing,  as  we  are  doing,  not  by 
the  course  of  nature,  not  by  the  decay  of  any  vital  part,  hardly  even 
by  disease  or  sickness,  but  by  the  constraint  of  a  situation,  in  which 
all  our  powers  are  rendered  useless,  and  all  our  efforts  serve  only  to 
exhaust  ourselves,  is  more  horrible  than  any  other  mode  of  ruin  ; 
and  recalls  to  one's  thoughts  what  I  recollect  to  have  read  of,  a  year 
or  two  ago,  of  a  man,  who  having  wedged  his  hand  in  a  rock  on  the 
sea-shore  was  held  there  till  the  tide  flowed  over  and  drowned  him. 
We  are  fixed  in  a  similar  cleft ;  and  here,  I  fear,  we  shall  remain 
'  Misprinted  (or  miswritten  ?)  than. 


WINDHAM    TO    BURKE  239 

Struggling  and  beating  ourselves  to  pieces,  till  the  great  revolutionary 
tide  pours  over  us  and  whelms  us,  never  to  be  heard  of  more. 

I  cannot  but  think  therefore,  at  such  a  moment,  a  letter  like  that 
which  you  had  in  contemplation  would  be  of  the  most  seasonable  use, 
by  showing  to  the  country  a  way  in  which  its  zeal  and  energy,  if  it 
has  any,  may  find  vent.  I  have  but  little  doubt  that  there  is  in  the 
country  a  considerable  deal  of  energy  ;  at  least,  in  comparison  of 
anything  that  has  yet  appeared.  But  it  is  the  want  of  knowing  how 
to  exert  it  that  has  repelled  and  kept  it  down. 

The  common  feeling  of  people  is,  and  that  which  sinks  them  into 
inaction  and  despondency,  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  ;  that 
every  means  have  been  tried,  or  at  least  that  none  now  remains. 
The  idea  of  offensive  war  is  so  totally  lost ;  the  means  of  such  a  war 
appear  so  totally  exhausted;  the  ignorance  of  the  people  is  so 
complete,  or  rather  their  ideas  are  so  false,  of  the  state  of  things  in 
the  maritime  provinces,  and  of  the  effects  to  be  produced  there,  if  we 
were  really  to  direct  our  efforts  on  that  side,  that  they  never  will 
conceive  of  themselves  the  possibility  of  such  a  war,  nor  ever,  I  fear, 
be  brought  to  it,  except  by  being  made  to  understand  that  peace 
is  absolutely  unattainable,  and  that  an  attack  upon  the  coast  of 
France  is  the  only  means  of  defence. 

It  must  after  all  be  confessed,  that  when  the  whole  force  of 
France  and  all  its  dependencies  shall  be  transferred  to  this  side,  the 
dispositions  of  the  royalists,  aided  by  all  the  efforts  that  we  can  make, 
will  find  it  sufficiently  difficult  to  produce  any  effect.  Still  it  is  the 
only  chance,  and  that  which  affords  you  the  benefit  of  other  chances; 

the  commotions  namely,  which  may  be  expected  in  other  parts  of 

France,  and  which  such  diversion  is  most  likely  to  bring  on,  as  well 
as  turn  to  account. 

I  have  not  an  idea,  while  I  am  stating  this,  that  such  a  plan  will 
ever  be  attempted  by  the  present  Cabinet,  nor  would  the  attempt  of 
bringing  the  country  to  such  ideas  be  made  with  most  advantage 
in  their  persons.  But  necessity  may  bring  on  something  of  the  sort. 
Attempts  continually  made  on  our  coasts  may  lead  in  the  end  to 
a  return  ;  commotions  in  France  may  again  raise  the  Vendee  and 
the  Chouans;    and  thus   a  war  be  gradually  formed  in  which  the 


240  WINDHAM    TO    BURKE 

royalists  of  both  countries  may  find  themselves  united  against  that 
union  which  has  long  taken  place  between  the  Jacobins  of  the  two 
countries.  The  difficulty,  I  fear,  will  be  to  find  the  royalists  here. 
It  will  hardly  be  in  M'"  Fox  and  his  friends  ;  and  I  do  not  think  that 
among  M''  Pitt's  friends  the  spirit  of  royalty  burns  with  too  bright 
a  flame. 

The  business  of  the  fleet  is  as  well  over  as  such  a  thing  can  be. 
I  am  almost  inclined  to  wish  that  the  Admiralty  had  refused  to 
comply,  and  tried  the  bringing  home  Jervis's  fleet  to  stop  any 
attempt  of  the  mutineers  to  carry  the  fleet  to  the  enemy  ;  depending 
upon  the  dissensions  that  would  have  arisen  among  them  and  the 
dread  of  consequences,  when  they  had  time  to  contemplate  them,  for 
reducing  them  to  submission  in  the  meantime. 

What  news  may  be  in  London  at  present,  I  don't  know,  as  I 
write  this  from  Fulham.  The  last  gives  the  possibility  of  some  turn 
that  may  save  the  Emperor  from  immediate  submission  ;  but  it  is 
only  a  possibility.  One  anecdote  of  the  Emperor  I  cannot  forbear 
mentioning.  When  his  courtiers  were  besieging  him  with  demands 
for  peace,  and  urging  that  Vienna  must  fall,  he  answered  by  saying, 
"Eh  bien  !  est  ce  que  Vienne  est  I'Empire.''"  The  Emperor  and 
Thugut  however  are  the  only  persons  who  stand  upon  that  ground. 
I  believe  we  also  have  an  Emperor  here  to  do  the  same  :  but  where 
is  the  Thugut  .'' 

Farewell  !  my  dear  sir.  To  keep  as  distant  as  possible  one  of 
the  great  Calamities  of  the  time,  take  care  of  yourself;  conform  to 
D''  Parry's  directions  ;  and  I  should  still  be  inclined  to  add,  consent, 
now  that  you  are  going  on  so  well,  to  let  D""  Eraser  be  prepared 
with  a  knowledge  of  your  case.  I  do  not  see  what  levity  there 
could  be  in  this ;  and  I  certainly  see  the  chance  at  least  of  some 
advantage. 

I  am,  my  dear  sir,  most  truly  yours 

Wm.  Windham. 

Let  me  beg  you  to  add  my  best  respects  to  M''''  Burke,  and 
compliments  to  the  rest  of  your  family. 


burke  to  windham  24i 

Burke  to  Windham  ^ 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f.   1 74-) 

Bath,  26"*  April,  1797. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  not  been  so  ill  since  you  left  me  as  not  to  have 
been  able  to  make  a  beginning,  if  not  a  progress,  in  the  execution  of 
your  commands  ;  but  to  do  anything  without  raising  a  Spirit  (I  mean 
a  National  Spirit)  with  all  the  energy  and  much  of  the  conduct  of  a 
Party  Spirit,  I  hold  to  be  a  thing  absolutely  impossible  ;  and  I  hold 
it  to  be  impossible  to  raise  that  Spirit  whilst  the  Minister  who  ought 
to  excite  it  and  direct  it,  and  to  employ  it  for  the  purposes  of  his  own 
existence,  as  well  as  that  of  his  Master  and  his  Country,  is  the  very 
person  who  oppresses  it ;  and  who,  with  double  the  expence  and 
double  the  apparatus  of  every  sort  with  which  our  most  vigourous 
Wars  were  ever  carried  on,  is  resolved  to  make  no  War  at  all.  Our 
only  hope  is  in  a  submission  to  the  Enemy  by  taking  up  the  principles 
of  that  Enemy  at  home,  and  by  submit[t]ing  to  any  terms  which  the 
directing  body  of  that  Enemy  abroad  shall  think  fit  to  prescribe. 
If  they  demand  Portsmouth  as  a  cautionary  town,  it  will  be  yielded 
to  them  ;  and  as  to  our  Navy,  that  has  already  perished  with  its 
discipline  for  ever.  I  have  my  thoughts  upon  a  modification,  without 
a  departure  from  the  terms,  of  our  late  unhappy  submission,  but  they 
are  of  no  moment,  because  no  attention  will  be  paid  to  them.  What 
cure  for  all  this  ?  What  but  in  that  spirit  "  which  might  create  a 
Soul  under  the  ribs  of  Death  "  ?  But  to  this  end  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  no  terms  within  or  without  doors  should  be  kept  with 
the  French  party  in  our  Parliament ;  who  must  be  treated  as  public 
Enemies,  else  they  and  the  Head  of  the  Republic  abroad  will 
infallibly  overpower  all  the  feeble  force  of  a  flying  resistance.  But 
can  such  a  creature  as  I  undertake  the  task,  when  the  very  Ministers, 
whom  I  must  by  the  necessity  of  the  case  support,  will  the  very  next 
day,  tho'  without  anything  reciprocal  on  the  part  of  their  Enemies, 
will  [sic')  calmly  discuss  with  them  the  merits  of  the  public  measures  as 

'  In  Nagle's  hand. 

B.-W.  C.  31 


242  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

if  they  were  members  of  the  same  Cabinet,  differing  not  in  principle 
but  upon  some  points  more  or  less  ?  Despairing  as  I  do  of  anything 
that  can  be  executed  under  this  prevalence  of  no  spirit,  I  should  not 
at  all  despair  of  the  people  if  they  were  roused.  A  Pamphlet  has 
been  sent  to  me  called  "  Reasons  against  National  despondency  \" 
It  is  ably  written,  and  with  regard  to  myself  personally  it  is  in  one 
part  very  flattering,  but  it  is  all  written  upon  the  false  principle  of 
decorum  and  management  with  the  persons  whose  Politics  it  opposes. 
This  is  the  only  tone  which  I  suspect  that  those  who  support 
Ministry  will  bear,  because  the  conduct  of  Ministers  makes  them 
look  hourly  for  a  change  or  for  a  compromise.  Yet  with  all  this 
before  me  I  will  endeavour  to  execute  what  you  desire,  tho'  as 
disjoined  from  the  rest  of  my  plan  it  will  lose  something  of  its  feeble 
effect.  Another  great  difficulty  there  is,  which  consists  in  this  :  that 
the  ministers  must  overthrow  the  whole  legal  establishment  of  their 
Army,  and  that  speedily  ;  else  nothing  can  be  done  agreeably  to  our 
plans.  I  am  clearly  of  Opinion  that  as  we  stand  at  present  we  are 
not  in  a  posture,  any  more  than  a  disposition,  to  take  the  only  active 
measure  of  defence  which  remains  to  us,  namely  to  make  an  active 
war  in  the  territory  of  France.  But  I  wish  you  would  take  a  real 
view  of  our  applicable  strength,  which  I  am  not  in  a  condition  to  do, 
and  particularly  with  regard  to  what  Cavalry  could  be  got  together 
here  or  in  Ireland,  after  the  fatal  measure  of  disbanding  several 
of  the  Corps  of  that  kind  which  had  been  raised.  Will  you  be  so 
good  as  to  furnish  me  with  the  details  of  the  killed  and  wounded  in 
this  War  on  the  Continent,  as  well  as  the  List,  if  the  Office  contains 
it,  of  the  killed  and  wounded  in  the  Seven  Years  War,  both  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  in  North  America,  and  in  the  West  Indies, 
including  ours  and  the  Provincial  troops  at  the  Havannah  ?  I  hope 
I  am  not  over-immersed  in  details,  but  I  cannot  well  go  on  without 
them.  Unfortunately  I  cannot  find  that  Quiberon  Paper,  but  Nagle 
and  I  have  hunted  for  it  in  vain.  God  bless  you  and  preserve  you 
to  better  times. 

M^^  Burke  always  remembers  you  with  affection  and  gratitude, 
and  I  can  never  think  of  my  miserable  health  without  a  proper  sensi- 
'  An  answer  to  Erskine's  View  of  the  Causes. 


BURKE   TO    WINDHAM  243 

bility  to  your  uncommon  solicitude  about  it.  Except  the  difficulty  of 
opening  my  body,  I  am  otherwise  better,  and  have  [had]  no  bad 
night  since  you  left  us.     Adieu,  once  more.     God  bless  you. 

Y'"^  ever  affectionately 

Edm.  Burke. 


The  following  verses  were  written  before  things  came  to  their 
apparent  worst  point.  There  was  still  need  for  further  "negative 
successes,"  for  on  20  May  broke  out  the  more  serious  mutiny 
at  the  Nore,  this  time  undoubtedly  the  work  of  a  "  sea-lawyer,"  a 
plausible  scamp  named  Richard  Parker,  recently  released  from  prison 
on  condition  of  joining  the  Navy.  The  mischief  spread  to  the  North 
Sea  fleet,  then  practically  in  presence  of  the  enemy,  and  was  only 
gradually  quelled  by  a  vigorous  use  of  such  resources  as  remained  to 
the  Admiralty  in  shore-batteries  and  the  removal  of  the  buoys  and 
marks  without  which  unskilled  seamen  could  hardly  find  their  way 
out  of  the  Thames.  It  ended  on  14  June  in  the  surrender  for  trial 
and  execution  of  the  ringleader. 

G.    Canning   to  Windham. 

(Add.  MS.  37844,  f.  267.) 

Spring  Gardens.     May  12,  1797. 
Most  Private. 

Windham !  whene'er  thy  fervent  mind 
Some  thought,  uncommon,  just,   refined, 

In  happiest  phrase  expresses; 
Thy  vulgar  audience  stare  and  gape, 
And  shout,  and  chuckle,  at  the  scrape 

Of  "Negative  Sticcesses." 

31—2 


244  CANNING   TO   WINDHAM 

2. 

Oh  tell  me !  does  today's  Event 
Serve  to  illustrate  what  you  meant  ? 

— Or  will  the  Soldiers  riot  ? 
Oh  !  if  the  Guards  have  not  rebell'd, 
And  if  the  naval  fray  is  quell'd, 

If  Portsmouth  yet  is  quiet ; — 

3- 
Come  Windham !  celebrate  with  me 

This  day  of  joy  and  jubilee, 

This  day  of  no  disaster  ! 

Our  Government  is  not  o'erturn'd — 

Huzza  ! — our  Fleet  has  not  been  burn'd 

Our  Army's  not  our  Master. 


G.  C. 


Burke  to   Windham'. 

(Add.  MS.  37843,  f-   187.) 

Bath,   i^'"  May,   1797.  6/ 

My  dear  Friend,  ' 

You  cannot  be  very  much  at  a  loss  for  the  cause  of  my 
not  answering  your  last  Letter  before  this  time,  though  its  kindness 
well  deserved  my  most  early  attention  ;  but  grief,  shame,  indignation, 
and  utter  despair  have  so  fermented  in  my  mind,  as  to  produce  there 
a  disorder  as  strong  as  the  fermentation  which  my  food  undergoes  in 
my  miserable  stomach.  What  could  I  give  you  but  one  of  my  mental 
eructations  ?  There  is  an  end  of  us.  The  Revolution  is  accomplished, 
even  before  the  Jacobin  Peace.  It  has  happened,  as  I  long  feared 
it  would,  that  the  danger  has  commenced  in  the  very  foundations  of 
our  false  security.  We  have  paid  near  ^600,000  a  year  for  the 
destruction  of  our  Naval  discipline  and  Naval  fidelity  for  ever :  and 
this  unfortunate  measure  of  buying  mutiny  and  insubordination  in  the 
Navy  has  been  followed  by  a  beginning  in  the  Army,  which  will  run 
through  the  whole ;  and  as  most  certainly  it  will  be  the  measure,  on 
such  a  peace  as  they  will  make,  to  keep  up  a  great  Military  and 

^  Not  in  Burke's  hand. 


BURKE   TO   WINDHAM  245 

Naval  establishment,  the  expence  will  be  enormous.  Among  the 
people  it  will  be  a  perpetual  source  of  discontent ;  and  in  proportion 
as  Troops  and  Seamen  are  idle  and  unemployed,  in  that  proportion 
will  be  their  disposition  to  every  species  of  insubordination.  But 
among  all  the  parts  of  this  fatal  measure  the  Mission  of  my  Lord 
Howe  has  been  by  far  the  most  mischievous.  Had  a  great  Naval 
Commander  been  sent  down — "  Gravem  pietate  et  mentis  virum 
quem  " — to  awe  the  seditious  into  obedience,  it  would  have  been  the 
best  thing  that  could  have  been  thought  of;  but  to  send  the  first 
name  in  the  Navy,  and  who  had  been  but  lately  a  Cabinet  Minister 
and  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  at  upwards  of  70  years  of  age, 
to  hunt  amongst  mutineers  for  grievances,  to  take  the  Law  from 
Joice,  a  seditious  Clubist  of  Belfast,  and  to  remove  by  his  orders 
some  of  the  principal  Officers  of  the  Navy,  puts  an  end  to  all  hopes 
for  ever.  Such  mischief  need  not  to  have  been  attended  with  so  much 
degradation.  There  is  an  amnesty  for  rebellion,  but  none  for  Officers 
who  do  their  duty.  They,  and  they  only,  are  punished  and  degraded. 
The  Mutineers  now  choose  their  own  Officers,  or  have  at  least  a 
Negative  on  them,  and  all  officers  who  go  to  sea  are  apprized  of  the 
tenures  by  which  they  hold,  and  must,  in  future,  comport  themselves, 
not  as  Naval  Commanders,  but  as  Candidates  at  an  election.  All 
this  is  the  fruit  of  the  snug  system  of  our  plan  in  a  Home  defence. 
I  see  by  the  Irish  Gov*  Newspapers  that  8,000  men  have  been 
either  sent,  or  are  sending,  to  Ireland  to  support  a  Military  Govern- 
ment there  under  the  auspices  of  that  junto  to  which  both  Kingdoms 
are  sacrificed.  Do  you  really  believe,  or  does  any  one  believe,  that 
such  a  military  Government  can  be  supported  by  the  joint  finances 
of  both  Nations  ?  I  am  sure  Ireland  can  contribute  little  or  nothing 
towards  it.  I  see  they  are  making  a  run,  through  the  most  con- 
temptible wretch  on  earth.  Lord  Dillon',  and  another,  not  much  less 
so,  a  M''  Day,  at  my  friend  Doctor  Hussey-,  upon  account  of  his  zeal 
in  strengthening  his  flock  according  to  his  principles  against  the 
religious  persecution  which,  under  pretence  of  military  discipline, 
has  been  exercized  against  the  Roman  Catholic  soldiery.  Excuse 
me  if  I   speak  my  mind    freely.     These   people    have    perfidiously 

'  Charles,   1 2th  Viscount  Dillon. 

'  Thomas  Hussey,  Bishop  of  Waterford  and  Lismore. 


246  BURKE   TO   WINDHAM 

quarreled  upon  this  very  head  with  one  of  the  worthiest,  most 
disinterested,  most  able  and  most  zealous  friends  that  Government 
ever  had.  When  the  Duke  of  Portland  sent  him  to  Ireland,  he 
declared  to  His  Grace  in  the  fullest  manner,  that  if  it  was  intended 
that  he  should  go  over  for  the  purpose  of  deluding  any  of  those  of 
his  own  communion,  and  particularly,  the  Catholic  Military  to  whom 
he  was  appointed  Chaplain-General,  into  an  acquiescence  under 
oppression  or  persecution,  that  He  never  would  act  that  part ;  and 
explained  himself  in  the  same  manner  to  M"^  Pelham.  But  I  see 
that  the  plan  is  to  remove,  and  if  possible  to  destroy,  any  of  that 
religion  who  will  not  be  their  tools  in  establishing  a  Jacobin  indiffer- 
ence to  all  religion  ;  and  a  hatred  to  the  ruling  one  among  the 
common  people,  who  are  altogether  composed  of  Catholics,  and  who 
if  they  have  not  that  religion,  will  have  no  other.  It  is  all  over  with 
the  Peace  and  property  of  that  Kingdom.  Adieu,  my  dear  friend, 
and  believe  me  ever  faithfully  and  affectionately 

y-rs 

Edm.  Burke. 

There  is  nothing  that  gives  me  so  much  consolation  as  that 
I  have  opened  my  mind  very  fully  on  Irish  affairs  to  M''  Dundas, 
in  two  conversations  which  lasted  for  four  hours.  I  entered  into  the 
minutest  details  concerning  Ireland,  to  make  him  sensible  of  the 
consequences  of  what  was  then  doing,  and  I  must  do  him  the  Justice 
to  say,  that  he  heard  me  not  only  with  great  patience,  but  with  the 
utmost  humanity  and  kindness,  though  I  very  soon  found,  that 
neither  my  laborious  remonstrance  nor  his  indulgent  hearing  pro- 
duced any  effect  whatsoever  for  the  purpose  I  had  so  much  at  Heart — 
the  Peace  of  Ireland,  its  consolidation  with  this  Kingdom,  and  a 
direction  of  our  common  force  against  our  common  Enemy. 


Here  the  letters  to  Windham  end.  The  Correspondence  contains 
a  few  later  letters  to  others  (22-28  May),  and  the  story  of  his  illness 
is  told  in  the  letters  of  his  physicians  and  of  Woodford  in  Add.  MS. 
37843.     He  died  on  9  July  1797. 


INDEX 


Adair,  James,   i8o 

Addington,  Henry,  i6o,  232,  235;  letter 

to,  from  Windham,   1797,   230 
Albert  de  Rioms,  Francois  (or  Charles?) 

Hector  d',   122 
Alsace,  78 
America,  British,   242 

,  United  States  of,  26,  49,  87,  234 

Anderson,  Rev.  Benjamin,   167  sq. 
Artois,  Comte  d',  v.  Charles  Philippe 
Asgill,  Capt.  Charles,   214  sq. 
Ashurst,  William  Henry,  judge,    177 
Association,    Burke's    project    for,     146, 

177 
Auckland,  Lord,  v.  Eden,  William 
Austria,  84,  86,   211  sqq.,  220,  235,  240 

Balloon  ascent,  Windham's,   1785,  4,  5 
Bantry  Bay,  226 
Baretti,  Giuseppe,  trial  of,   19 
Bayham,  Lord,  v.  Pratt,  John  Jeffreys 
Beaconsfield,  resources  of,  for  war,  179 
Bedford,  Duke  of,  v.  Russell,  Francis 
Bennett,  William,  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  124 
Bentinck,    Lady   Charlotte,    marriage   of, 

1793'  40 

,  Lord  William,  52 

,  William  Cavendish,  Duke  of  Port- 
land, Prime  Minister,  1783,  2,  3;  visits 
Burke,  1784,  1785,  4,  5,  6 ;  Chancellor 
of  Oxford  University,  29  sq. ;  vacillation 
of,  1793'  35  sqq.;  unwilling  to  join 
Ministry,  55  sq. ;  but  supports  the  war, 
17,85;  offered  the  garter,  99  ;  Secretary 
of  State,  1794,  113;  wishes  to  resign 
on  the  Irish  difificulty,  124;  distress 
of,  at  Fitzwilliam's  recall,  1795,  i5^j 
letters  to  Windham,  1792-1794,  31, 
95.    I07'    III'    124,    128,    139;    letter 


to,   from  Burke,   1795,   169;  letter  to, 

from  Windham,   1793,  52 
Beresford,  Hon.  John,  dismissed  by  Lord 

Fitzwilliam,   1795,   '53 
Bertier  de  Sauvigny,  Louis  Benigne  Fran- 

gois,  215 
Bingham,  Charles,  1st  Baron  Lucas,  82,  86 
Bird,  Mr,   187 
Bishop,  a  revolutionary,  on   the  God  of 

Nature  and  Liberty,  79 
Blane,  Gilbert,  afterw.    ist  Bart.,   229 
Bois-le-Duc,   142 
Bollmann,  Dr,  219  n. 
Bolsover  Castle,   162 
Botany  Bay,   167 
Bourbon,  Cape,  107 
Bourbon,  Louis  Henri  Joseph,   Due  de, 

194  sq.,  220 
Brazil,   224 
Brest,  221,  225  sqq. 
Bridport,  Lord,  v.  Hood,  Alexander 
Brighton,   71 
Bristol,  proposed   address   from,   on    the 

Regency  question,   1789,   16 
Brittany,  Royalist  forces  in,  39,  92,  164, 

172  sqq.,  193,  239 
Brocklesby,  Dr  Richard,  204 
Brooks'  Club,   1 1 
Browne,  Mr,   128 
Brunswick,  Duke  of,  v.  Charles   William 

Ferdinand 
Buller,  Sir  Francis,   150 
Bureau  de  Pusy,  Jean  Xavier,  215  n. 
Burke,  Edmund,  not  considered  suitable 

for    high    office,    1789,    lo ;     on    the 

Regency  Bill,   1789,   11 — 18;   opinion 
of  the   French   Constitution   of   1789, 

20  sqq. ;   Reflections  on  the  Revolution 
in  France,  21  ;   Letter  to  a  Member  of 


248 


INDEX 


the  National  Assembly,  23 ;  rupture 
with  Fox,  1791,  23  sq. ;  at  variance 
with  Windham  on  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  French  revolution,  23  sqq. ; 
speech  on  Fox's  motion  for  peace, 
1793,  42  n. ;  his  prophecies  of  the 
French  constitution  fulfilled,  59;  speech 
on  Emigrant  Bill,  107  ;  thanked  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  1794,  113;  false 
report  of  his  being  provost  of  Trinity 
College,  1794,  117;  proposes  an 
Association,  1794,  1795,  146,  177; 
buys  oxen  for  ploughing,  1795,  175, 
179;  memoire  to  Mr  Pitt,  1795,  177; 
his  preparations  for  war,  1795,  179; 
exordium  for  Reeves,  1795,  182;  starts 
a  school  for  emigres  at  Penn,  1796, 
190,  194  sq. ;  sketch  of  a  negro  code, 
190;  exaggerated  views  of,  on  Ireland, 
1796,  203 ;  Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace, 
179 6- 1797,  207;  Fifty-four  Articles  of 
Impeachment  against  Rt.  Hon.  C.  J.  Fox, 
improperly  published,  1797,  235;  letters 
to  and  from,  see  Table  of  Contents 

Burke,  Mrs,  5  sq.,  51,  68,  79,  149,  156, 
171,   189,   195  sqq.,   201,   213,   242 

,  Richard,  brother  of  Edmund  Burke, 

5.  6,  12 
, ,  son  of  Edmund   Burke,   5  ; 


death   of,   1794,    115,    175;    character 
of,  145  ;  letters  to  Windham,  1794,  94, 
108  sq. 
— ,  William,  67,   171 


Cadiz,  220 

Cadres,  the,   198  sqq. 

Calais,  116 

Cambray,  50 

Camden,  Earls  of,  v.  Pratt 

Canning,  George,  218;  letter  to  Windham 
in  verse,  1797,  243 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  185,  238 

Carey,  Henry,  Dragon  of    Wantley,   168 

Caroline  of  Brunswick,  marries  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  1795,  157 

Castries,  Corps  of,   198  sqq. 

Catherine  II,  Empress  of  Russia,  220 

Cavendish,  Georgiana,  Duchess  of  Devon- 
shire, Diary  of,  10 


Cavendish,  Lord  John,  221 

,  William,  5th  Duke  of  Devonshire, 

106,   158 
Cazales,  Jacques  Antoine  Marie  de,  201 
Ceylon,  238 
Charette  de  la  Contrie,  Frangois  Athanase, 

172,  193 
Charles  Philippe,  Comte  d'Artois,  afterw. 

Charles     X,     92  ;     see     also    France, 

Princes  of 
Charles    William     Ferdinand,     Duke    of 

Brunswick,  retreats  from  Valmy,  1792, 

31  ;  repoited  victory  of,  1794,  94 
Chatham,   Earl  of,  v-  Pitt,  John 
Choiseul,  Claude  Antoine  Gabriel,  Due  de, 

187 
Chouans,  the,   193,   239 
Church,   Mr,   219 

Cloyne,  Bishop  of,  v.  Bennett,  William 
Coblenz,   106 
Coburg,  Frederick  Josias,  Prince  of,  73, 

86 
Coke,  Thomas   William,  afterw.   Earl  of 

Leicester,  51 
Colpoys,  Rear-Adm.  John,  221,  226 
Conolly,  Thomas,   2 
Cooke,  Edward,   155 
Corsica,  occupation  of,  147,  204,  210 
Corunna,  221 
Cowper,   Henry,   150 
Craufurd,  Col.  Charles,  218 

,  Robert,  afterw.  General,  218 

Crevecoeur,  50 

Crewe,  Frances  Anne,  afterw.  Lady  Crewe, 

50,  194,  196;  accident  to,  1795,  169; 

letters  to,  from  Burke,  1795,  156,  158; 

e.Ktr.  of  letters  to,  from  Windham,  1796, 

203 
Creyk,  Capt.  Richard,  144 
Cuppage,  Capt.  William,   166  sq. 

Dallimore,  Mr,   179 

Dalrymple,  Gen.  William,  226  n. 

Darner,    George,   Viscount   Milton,    153, 

157 
Day,  Mr,  245 
Declaration  by  Britain  of  objects  of  the 

war,   1793,  78,  80 
Delancey,  Major-Gen.  Oliver,   i66 


INDEX 


249 


Devonshire,  address  from,  on  the  Regency, 

1789.  15 
,      Duchess      of,      v.      Cavendish, 

Georgiana 
,  Duke  of,  V.  Cavendish,  WilUam 


Dillon,    Charles,    12th   Viscount    Dillon, 

245 
Dixon,  Mr,  2 
Douglas,  Sir  Andrew,  237 
,  Sylvester,  afterw.  Baron  Glenbernie, 

99,  124,  143 
Dryden,  John,   109 
Dublin,  Trinity  College,  Provostship  of, 

vacant,   1794,   117,   124 
Dumouriez,   Charles  Francois  Duperrier, 

General,  defeat  and  defection  of,  1793, 

33.  37 

Dundas,  Henry,  41,  46  sq.,  61,  92,  113, 
143,  155.  166,  173,  192,  246;  letter  to 
Windham,  1796,  198;  extr.  of  letters 
to,  from  Windham,  1796,  193,  198; 
letter  to,  from  Windham,   1796,   200 

Dunkirk,  unsuccessful  siege  of,  43,  49  sq., 
51,  56,  58,  69,  71,  83 

Eden,  William,  ist  Baron  Auckland,  185, 
188 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  Association  formed 
under,   146,   177 

Elliot,  Anna  Maria,  Lady  Elliot,  afterw. 
Countess  of  Minto,  46 

,  Sir  Gilbert,  afterw.  ist  Earl  of  Minto, 

on  Irish  Secretaryship,  i  n.;  engaged 
on  Hastings'  impeachment,  1788,  9; 
on  the  Regency  question,  10;  on  the 
Canada  Bill,  1791,  24;  opinions  on 
the  war,  1793,  35  sq. ;  declaration  of 
Whig  policy  by,  1793,  36;  confers  with 
Ministers,  1793,  41  ;  offers  of  office  to, 
1793,  42  ;  proposed  mission  to  Dunkirk, 
changed  to  Toulon,  1793,  43;  sent 
to  Toulon,  57,  69  sq.  ;  assisted  by 
Hippisley,  62  ;  Burke  not  in  his  full 
confidence,  77  ;  on  Burke's  reward,  109; 
letters  to  Windham,  1793,  43,  47,  60 

,  William,  of  Wells,  114  n.,  162,  179; 


letter  to  Windham,  1796,  206 
Ellis,  George,   115 

,  William,   106 

B.-w.  c. 


Ernest,  Prince,   205  n. 

Erskine,  Monsignor  Charles,  64,  81,  88, 

92 
,    Thomas,     afterw.     Lord     Erskine, 

View  of  the  Causes  of  the    War,  233, 

242  n. 
Eyre,  Sir  James,   150 

Fane,  John,  E.  of  Westmorland,  114,  123, 
125  sq.,  136 

Farrant,  Dr,  2 

Ferrol,   221 

Fitzgerald,  William  Robert,  2nd  Duke  of 
Leinster,  2 

Fitzgibbon,  John,  Viscount  Fitzgibbon, 
Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland,   122 

Fitzherbert,  Alley ne,  Irish  Secretary,   i  n. 

,  Mrs,  7,   18 

Fitzpatrick,  Gen.  Richard,  211  n.,  214  n., 
217 

Fitzroy,  Charles,  afterw.  Baron  South- 
ampton, 57 

Fitzwilliam,  Charlotte,  Countess  Fitz- 
william,   159  sq. 

,  William  Wentworth,  Earl  Fitz- 
william, offered  a  raarquisate,  99; 
President  of  the  Council,  1794,  113; 
indiscreet  conduct  of,  122 ;  Burke's 
obligations  to,  131  ;  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  143  ;  dismisses  Beresford, 
1795.153;  recalled,  156  sqq.;  letters  to 
Windham,  1794-1795,  122,  153;  letters 
to,  from  Windham,  1 794-1 795,  125,  154 

Flanders,  evacuated  by  the  French,  1793, 

38 

Fontenaye,  Madame  de,   i86 

Forbes,  George,  6th  Earl  of  Granard,  155 

Foulon,  Josepii  Francois,   2  n  sq. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  trusts  too  much  to 
accident,  1784,  4,  5  ;  ill-health  of,  1788, 
9  ;  views  and  speech  on  the  Regency, 
1789,  12,  14;  spoken  of  by  Pitt  as  if 
minister  designate,  1789,  15  ;  rupture 
with  Burke,  1791,  23  sq. ;  speech  on 
the  French  constitution,  1791,  24;  at 
variance  with  Windham  and  Elliot, 
'793'  35)  ™otion  in  favour  of  peace, 
1793,  42;  alienation  from  his  party, 
56 ;     Pitt     or    he    the    only    possible 

32 


250 


INDEX 


ministers,  59 ;    on  the  Prince's  debts, 

1795,  163;    elected   for   Westminster, 

1796,  195  ;  on  the  budget,  1796,  211  ; 
Burke's  tract  against,  improperly  pub- 
lished,  1797,   235 

France,  Burke's  opinion  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  1789,  20  sqq. ;  Windham's 
travels  in,  1788,  1789,  7,  19  ;  Windham 
at  first  not  adverse  to  the  revolution, 
23  sqq. ;  declaration  of  war  with  Eng- 
land, 1793,  33;  constitution  of  1789, 
59 ;  Republican  Calendar,  75  n.  ; 
emigrant  clergy  of,  in  England,  162, 
167  sqq. 

,  Princes  of,  81,  91,   106 

Francis  II,  Emperor  of  Germany,  86, 
211  sqq.,  220,  235,  240 

Francis,  Philip,  plan  of  slavery  reform, 
190  sq. 

Fraser,  Dr,  240 

Frederick,  Duke  of  York,  50,  201 

Frederick  William  II,  King  of  Prussia, 
84,   106,  220 

Friends  of  the  People,  Society  of,  82 

Fulham,  240 

FuUarton,  Col.  William,  39,  42 

Gardner,  Sir  Alan,   195 

George  III,  Windham's  account  of  illness 
of,  1788,  7  ;  attack  upon,  1795,  '^^ 

George,  Prince  of  Wales,  afterw.  George 
IV,  marriage  with  Mrs  Fitzherbert,  7, 
18 ;  expected,  as  regent,  to  bring  in 
the  Whigs,  1789,  10  sq.  ;  necessity  for 
his  marrying  a  princess,  1789,  18; 
marriage,  1795,  157  ;  payment  of  debts 
of,  179s,  163;   unpopularity  of,   195 

Gibraltar,  siege  of,  167 

Grattan,  Henry,  2,  124,  128  sq.,  139  sq., 
153  sqq. 

Granville,  Thomas,  106,  in,  114  sq.,  202 

,  William  Wyndham,  Lord  Grenville, 

51.  175 
Greville,  Charles,  marriage  of,   1793,  40 
Grey,  Sir  Charles,  afterw.  ist  Earl  Grey, 

107 
,    Charles,    afterw.    2nd    Earl   Grey, 

25  sqq. 
Grififiths,  Joseph,  155 


Gurney,  John,  letter  to,  from  Windham, 
1792,  25 

Hamilton,  Sackville,   155 

Harcourt,  Francois  Henri,  Due  d',  92 

Hardinge,  George,   180 

Harris,  Harriet  Maria,  Lady  Malmesbury, 
46 

,  James,   ist  Baron,  afterw.   Earl  of 

Malmesbury,  desires  Irish  Lord  Lieu- 
tenancy, 47  ;  sent  to  treat  with  France, 
1796,  203  sq.,  212  sq.,  222  sq. 

Hastings,  Warren,  impeachment  of,  7,  9, 
II,  113,  149  sq.,  160;  grant  to,  from 
the  East  India  Company,  1796,  189 

Hatfield,  Mr,  9 

Havana,   242 

Haviland,  Major  Thomas,   165  sq. 

Havre,  116 

Hector,  Comte  d'.  Corps  of,   121 

Henley,  Robert,  2nd  Earl  of  Northington, 
Lord  Lieut,  of  Ireland,  i,  2 

Herbert,  Elizabeth,  Lady, death  of,  1793, 40 

Herefordshire,  oxen  from,   175,   179 

Hippisley,  John  Coxe,  afterw.  ist  Bart., 
62,  8i,  88  ;  Windham  forwards  his 
letter  to  Pitt,  1793,  68;  character  of, 
68,  88;  letter  to,  from  Burke,  1793, 
63;  letter  to,  from  Windham,  1793,  S5 

,  Mrs,  68 

Hobart,  Sir  John,   194  n. 

Hoche,  Lazare,  Gen.,  225,  232 

Holland,  84,   151  sq. 

Hood,  Alexander,  Baron  Bridport,  victory 
off  L'Orient,  1795,  164;  misses  the 
French  fleet,  1796,  226 

,  Samuel,    ist  Baron  and   Viscount 

Hood,  56  n.,  57,  59,  62,  84 

Howe,  Richard,  ist  Earl  Howe,  109,  225, 

237.  245 
Huddy,  Joseph,  214  n. 
Huger,   Francis  Kinloch,   219  n. 
Huskisson,  William,   105,   192,   194 
Hussey,   Thomas,    Bishop   of  Waterford 

and  Lismore,  245 

Inchiquin,  Earl  of,  v.  O'Bryen,  Murrough 
India,  conversation  about,  1787,  7  ;  v.  also 
Hastings,  Warren 


INDEX 


251 


Ireland,  Windham  Chief  Secretary  for, 
1 783,  I  ;  Sir  G.  Elliott  on  Secretaryship 
for,  I  n. ;  importance  of  conciliating 
Catholics  of,  26 ;  Catholics  of  not  dis- 
affected, 1793,  64  sqq. ;  Lord  Lieu- 
tenancy of,  offered  to  Lord  Spencer, 
i793i  42,  46  sqq.,  54,  98;  importance 
of  reforming  the  government,  98,  132 
sqq. ;  difficulty  of  filling  the  Lord 
Lieutenancy,  1794,  113;  Fitzwilliam 
Lord  Lieutenant  of,  1794,  143;  Fitz- 
william's  conduct  in,  1795,  153  sqq.; 
W.  Elliot  on  the  state  of,  1796,  206  sq.  ; 
military  government  of,  245 

Ivernois,  Fran9ois  d',  Reflexions  sur  la 
Guerre,   149 

Italy,  62  sqq.,  81,  88,   147,  210,   217 

Jervis,  John,  Earl  of  St  Vincent,  240 
Johnston,  Mrs  Douglas,   120 

Joice,  ,   245 

Jourdan,  Jean  Baptiste,  General,  71 

Kehl,  217,  220 
Kempshot,   157 
Kenny,  Dr,  208 
King,  Lieut  Henry,  171 

.  J-i   169 

,  Dr  Walker,  119,   148 

La   Cretelle,    Jean    Charles    Dominique, 

212 

La  Croix,  Charles,   187 

La  Fayette,  Marie  Paul  Roch  Yves  Gilbert 

Metier,  Marquis  de,  211  sqq.,  218  sq. 
Lamballe,  Marie  Therese  Louise  de  Savoie 

Carignan,  Princesse  de,  186 
La  Tour  du  Pin,  Comte  de,   122 
La  Tour  Maubourg,  Marie  Charles  Cesar 

Fay,  Comte  de,  215  n. 
Lauderdale,  Earl  of,  v.  Maitland,  James 
Laurence,  Dr  French,  139,  171,  196,  219 
Lees,  John,  155 
Leinster,  Duke  of,  v.  Fitzgerald,  William 

Robert 

Leland, ,  son  of  Dr  Thomas  Leland,  3 

Lennox,  Charles,  3rd  Duke  of  Richmond, 

58 
Lewis,  ,  guardsman,   167  n. 


Lille,  83  sq. 

Lippe,  Count  of,   210 

Lippincott,  Capt.,  214  n. 

I^ondon  Corresponding  Society,    178 

London,   disturbances   on   Lord  Mayor's 

Day,   1796,   205 
Long,  Charles,  afterw.  Baron  Farnborough, 

226 
L'Orient,   1 5  2 
Loughborough,     Lord,    v.     Wedderburn, 

Alexander 
Louis  XVI,   74,   211,  214  n.,   215 
Lucan,  quoted,   178 

,  Lord,  V.  Bingham,  Charles 

Lukin,  Miss,   195,   224 

,  Mrs,  52 

Luttrell,    Henry    Lawes,     2nd     Earl     of 

Carhampton,   209 
Lyons,  84 

Macbride,  Rear-Adm.  John,  71 

Mahony,  Count,  217  sq. 

Mainz,   106 

Maitland,  James,  8th  Earl  of  Lauderdale, 

107,  149 
Malmesbury,    Lady,    v.    Harris,    Harriet 

Maria 

,   Lord,  V.  Harris,  James 

Mansfield,  Earl  of,  v.  Murray,  David 
Marie  Antoinette,  trial  and  execution  of, 

72,  74>  76,  78,  81 
Marlay,  Richard,  Dean  of  Ferns,   i 
Martinique,   72,   107  sq.,   238 
Maskelyne,  Nevil,  Astronomer  Royal,  44 
Maubeuge,   70,  83 
Mediterranean,  need  of  British  force  in, 

1793'    38;    Lord    Hood's    fleet   there, 

62  sqq. ;  Nelson's  request  for  assurances 

about,  1796,  203 
Militia  reform  in  Ireland,   1793,  65 
Milton,  Viscount,  v.  Damer,  George 
Minor's  Pocket  Book,   The,   218,  222 
Montagu,  Frederick,   106 
Moore  of  Moorehall,  Ballad  of,   168 
Morley,  Right  Hon.  John,  Lord  Morley 

of  Blackburn,  Burke  ("Engl.  Men  of 

Letters  "),   10  n.,  23 
Mortemart,  Corps  of,   198  sqq. 
Muir,  Thomas,   107 

32—2 


252 


INDEX 


Murray,  David,  2nd  Earl  of  Mansfield, 
106;  President  of  the  Council,  1794, 
114,  124,  126,  139  ;  letter  to  Windham, 
1794,  126 

,    afterwards     Murray-Pulteney,    Sir 

James,  57 

Dr     Richard,     Vice-provost     of 


Trinity  College,   119 
Mudge,   Thomas,   Committee   on   claims 
of,   1793,  42 

Nagle,  Captain,  217 

,  Sir  Edmund,    144,   171,   177,  217, 

219,  242 
Nantes,   107 

Neerwinden,  Battle  of,   1793,  38 
Negative  successes,  Canning's  verses  on,  243 
Negroes,  Plans  of  Burke  and  Francis  for, 

190 
Nelson,  Horatio,  afterw.  Viscount  Nelson, 

203 
Newcastle,    Duke   of,   v.    Pelham-Holles, 

Thomas 
Nivernois  hat,   186 
Noble,  Mr,   198 
Noirmoutier,   73 
Nore,  mutiny  at  the,   243 
North,  Dudley  Long,   21 
,  Frederick,  Lord  North,  afterw.  2nd 

Earl  of  Guilford,  fall  of  his  ministry,  14 
Hon.    Frederick,   afterw.   5th  Earl 


of  Guilford,  145,  147 
Northington,  Earl  of,  v.  Henley,  Robert 
Norwich,  10,  21,  29,  69  sq.,  107,  151,  194 
Nova  Scotia,  227 

O'Bryen,    Murrough,   5th   Earl  of  Inchi- 

quin,  3 

O'Donoghue,  ,  208 

O'Connell,  Count  Daniel,  208  sq. 

Olmutz,  219 

Ostend,  78 

Oxen,  use  of,  for  ploughing,   175,   179 

Oxford,  202 

University,  sends  address  to  Burke, 

1790,  23  n. ;  Duke  of  Portland  elected 

chancellor  of,  1792,  29  sq. 

Paine,  Thomas,  Rights  of  Man,  28 


Palmer,  Thomas  Fysshe,   107 

Parker,  Richard,   243 

Parliament,  reform  of,  C.  Grey's  motion 
for,   1792,   25 

Parliament,  status  of  members  of,  67 

Parry,   Dr  Charles  Henry,   233  sqq.,  240 

Paul,  Emperor  of  Russia,  235 

Pelham,  Thomas,  afterw.  2nd  Earl  of 
Chichester,  11,  39  sq.,  50,  209,  246; 
Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  1795,  157; 
diary  of,   105  n.,   106,   161  n. 

Pelham-Holles,  Thomas,  Duke  of  New- 
castle,  16 

Penn,  accommodation  of  French  clergy 
at,   1795-1796,   167  sqq.,   190 

,  school  for  emigres  at,   194  sq. 

Petre,  Robert  Edward,  Lord  Petre,  24 

Pichegru,  Charles,  General,   142,   157 

Pitt,  John,  2nd  Earl  of  Chatham,  58  sq. ; 
Lord  Privy  Seal,  1794,  143 

,  William,  position  on  the  Regency 

question,  1789,  12,  15  ;  commends  Fox's 
moderation,  1789,  14;  conferences  of, 
with  the  Whigs,  1793,  41  ;  dines  with 
Burke  at  Lord  Grenville's,  1793,  51; 
he  or  Fox  the  only  possible  minister, 
59 ;    conversation  with    Earl    Spencer, 

1793,  82  sqq.  ;  financial  arrangements 
for  1794,  85  ;  reconstructs  his  ministry, 

1794,  113  ;  plan  for  paying  the  Prince's 
debts,  1795,  164;  speech  on  the 
Treasonable  Practices  Bill,  1795,  ^7^j 
his  ministry  a  duumvirate,  196;  popular 
feeling  against,  1796,  205  sq. ;  speech 
on  the  budget,  1796,  211  ;  praises 
Burke's  articles  against  Fox,  235  ;  letters 
to  Wijidham,  i793-i795.  4i,  70,  i74; 
letters  to,  from  Windham,  1 793-1796, 
68,  91,   104,   172,   191 

Pius  VI,   Pope,   Hippisley's  negotiations 

with,   1793,  62  sqq.,  81 
Poitou,  75,  80,  88,   105 
Polignac,     Yolande     Martine     Gabrielle, 

Duchesse  de,   186 
Ponsonby,  George,   124,   154 

,  William  Brabazon,   154 

Portland,  Duke  of,  v.  Bentinck,  William 

Cavendish 
Portsmouth,  71,   225,   236,  241,  244 


INDEX 


253 


Portugal,  209  sq.,  220,   223  sq. 

Potatoes,   177 

Pratt,  Charles,  ist  Earl  of  Camden,  82, 

86,   iSi 
,  John  Jeffreys,  Lord  Bayham,  afterw. 

2nd  Earl  of  Camden,  82,  158 
Prussia,  84,   106,  220 
Puisaye,  Comte  Joseph  de,   161,   164 

Quesnay,  83 

Quiberon  Bay,  expedition  to,   1795,  '^i' 
164  sq.,  242 

Reading,  232 

Heasons  against  National  Despondettcy,  242 

Reeves,  John,  178  sqq.;  exordium  written 

by  Burke  for,  1795,  182 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  5,  21 
Richmond,  Duke  of,  v.  Lennox,  Charles 
Riggs,  Michaelmas,  213 
Rioms,    Fran9ois    Hector    d'Albert    de, 

V.  Albert 
Robrie,  Chevalier  de  la,  105  sq. 
Rockingham,    Marquisate   of,   offered   to 

Lord  Fitzwilliam,  99 
Rohu,  Vincent,   198 
Rolle,  John,  afterw.  Baron  Rolle,  15 
Rome,   duty   of  Gt.   Britain    to  support, 

1793)  39)    Hippisley's  negotiations  at, 

62  sqq.,  81 
Russell,  Francis,  5th  Duke  of  Bedford,  175 

,  Lord  John,  Life  of  Fox,  36  n. 

Russia,  23,  92,  220,  23s 

Sadler,  James,  aeronaut,  4 

Saint  Eustatius,  taking  of,  49 

Saint  Helen's,   237 

Saint  Malo,  107 

Saint  Vincent,  Cape,  225 

San  Domingo,  51,  221,  238 

SapinauddeBois-Huguet,  Chevalierde,  193 

Scepeaux,    Marie    Paul    Alexandre  Cifsar 

Boisguignon,  Vicomte  de,   193 
Scotland,  travels  of  Burke  and  Windham 

in,    1785,  4;    Representative  Peers  of, 

97 
Seven  Years'  War,   242 
Shaw,  Robert,   155 
Sheffield,  28 


Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  204 ;  speaks 
for  the  Prince  on  the  Regency  question, 
1789,  15,  16;  motion  for  repeal  of 
suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  1 795, 
148;  attacks  on  Windham,  148,  150, 
152  ;  on  the  Prince's  debts,  1795,  163  ; 
kinship  with  the  Duke  of  Portland,  175  ; 
on  Reeves'  Libel,  1795,  '7^ 

Shuckburgh,  Sir  George,  44 

Sichel,  Walter,  Life  of  Sheridan,   10 

Slavery,  plans  of  Burke  and  Francis  for 
reform  of,   190  sq. 

Smith,  Dr,   205 

,  Sir  William  Sidney,  116,   212,  216 

Smyth,  Brabazon,  208 

Spain,   204,   210 

Spencer,  George  John,  Earl  Spencer,  94, 
106,  III,  114;  negotiations  concerning 
acceptance  of  office  by,  1793,  42 — 47, 
54,  98;  Lord  Privy  Seal,  1794,  113; 
sent  to  Vienna,  115;  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  143  ;  goes  to  Portsmouth  to 
quell  the  mutiny,  1797,  236;  letters  to 
Windham,   1793-1796,  55,  58,  82,  116, 

197 
,   Lavinia,    Countess  Spencer,  letter 

to  Windham,   1797,  236 
Spithead,  Mutiny  at,   225,   236 
Starhemberg,  Count,  218 
Stofflet,  Nicolas,   193 
Stuart,  Hon.  Charles,  General,   209  sq. 
— — ,  Miss,  sister  of  Mrs  Hippisley,  68 
Sturt,  Charles,   178 
Sun,  newspaper,   180,  214,   220 
Swabbers,   184 
Swift,  Jonathan,   184  n. 
Switzerland,  Windham's  travels  in,  1788,  7 

TaUien,  Jean  Lambert,   186 
Tenison,  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, on  Whist  and  Swabbers,  184 
Thellusson,  Peter,  31 
Thugut,  Franz  Maria,  Freiherr  von,   240 
Thurlow,  David,  ist  Baron  Thurlow,  150 
Tooke,  John  Home,   195,  204 
Toulon,  British  occupation  of,  56  sq.,  59, 

69  sq.  74,   78,  80,  84,  86,  91,  93 
Townshend,      Charles,      afterw.       Baron 
Bayning,  87,   106 


254 


INDEX 


Valenciennes,  Windham  at  surrender  of, 

1793,  43 
Valmy,  battle  of,   1792,  31 
Vendee,  La,  73,  77,  84,   108,  239 
Vienna,  115  sq.,  235,  240 
Vigo,  220  sq. 

Wade,  Josiah,   180  sq. 
Wales,  Prince  of,  v.  George 
Warren,  Sir  John  Borlase,   198  n. 

,  Dr  Richard,  229 

Washington,  George,  215 
Watignies,  battle  of,  71  n. 
Watson,  Brook,  205 

Wedderburn,  Alexander,  ist  Baron  Lough- 
borough,   Lord    Chancellor,    98,    113, 

141,   143 
Weissenburg,  79 
West  Indies,  78,  80,  107  sq.,  151,  223  sq., 

238,  242 
Westminster,  suggested  address  from,  on 

the  Regency  question,  1789,   17 
Westmorland,  Lord,  v.  Fane,  John 
Whig  Club,  39 
Whiggism,  Duke  of  Portland's  definition 

of,  96 
Whist  and  Swabbers,   184 
White,  General,  208 
Whitworth,  Sir  Charles,  235 
Wilberforce,  William,  217 
William  III,  Association  formed  under,  1 77 
Winchester,    7 1 ;    French   clergy   housed 

at  the    King's    House   in,    1795,    ^^2, 

167  sqq. 
Windham,  William,  Irish  Secretary,  1783, 

I  ;  M.P.  for  Norwich,  1784,  4;  travels 

in  Scotland,   1785,  4;   balloon  ascent, 

4,  5 ;  takes  part  in  Hastings'  impeach- 


ment, 7  ;  travels  in  Switzerland  and 
France,  1788,  7;  speeches  on  the 
Regency,  1789,  19;  again  in  France, 
19  ;  gradual  change  of  opinion  con. 
cerning  France,  23,  25  ;  opposes  Parlia- 
mentary Reform,  1792,  25;  acts  as  a 
sort  of  leader  of  the  \Vhigs,  1793,  36; 
overtures  of  the  Ministry  to,  1793, 
41  sq.,  85  sq.,  98  sq.,  iii  ;  draws  report 
on  Mudge's  claims,  1793,  42;  speech 
on  Fox's  motion  for  peace,  1793,  42  n. ; 
visits  the  army  in  Flanders,  42  sq. ; 
Secretary  at  War,  1794,  113;  again 
visits  the  army,  1794,  115;  speech  on 
Sheridan's     Habeas     Corpus     motion, 

1795,  148;  speech  on  the  Treasonable 
Practices  Bill,  1795,  175;  desires  to 
relinquish  management  of  Royalist 
affairs,  1796,  191  ;  re-elected  for  Nor- 
wich, 1796,  194;  dissatisfied  with  peace 
proposals,  1796,  203;  speech  on  Gen. 
Fitzpatrick's  motion  about  La  Fayette, 

1796,  214  sqq.;  Sir  G.  Elliot  on  the 
character  of,  44 ;  letters  to  and  from, 
see  Table  of  Contents 

Woodford,  Emperor  John  Alexander, 
inspector  of  foreign  corps,  118,  191, 
194,  201,  208,  215,  221,  226;  letters 
to,  from  Burke,  1795,  1796,  181,  211 

Woodley,  230 

Wurmser,  Dagobert  Sigismund,  Graf  von. 
General,  79  n.,  94 

Wycombe,  accommodation  of  French 
clergy  at,   1795,   167  sqq. 

Yonge,  Sir  George,  113 
York,  Duke  of,  v.  Frederick 


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